


Into the Daggerverse

by Charmedpluto



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: If you read Fireteam Dagger on FF.net and wanted more, Multi, Not super lore friendly, noncanon stuff, soft reboot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:47:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25414180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charmedpluto/pseuds/Charmedpluto
Summary: They had been missing since the SIVA Crisis. Hope was starting to fade. Now I must find them, reforge this blade anew. This duty was appointed to me by the Shard, and the Dominus will pay for what he has taken from me.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

My name is June Solaire. Warlock of the Order of the Blades. And this Archive is my story.

I found myself in the Archives again, doing more research. My Ghost, Namjoon, hovered calmly over my shoulder as I sat at my usual spot. I had a tablet in hand, rented out from the Archive for easy access, Tablet 009, which had multiple documents open on it. The documents ranged from news stories and editorials, to after action reports and full mission briefings. There was also Ghost Fragments and video logs from all over the system. I was searching for a series of Guardians that the Vanguard had been rather hush about recently. I couldn’t help it, something about who I am, and maybe who I once was before my first death. As I searched through recent events a single Fireteam kept popping up.

Fireteam Dagger.

According to Declassified data, they were a group of 6 Guardians who formed sometime after the Battle of Six Fronts, but as time marched on various events occurred that ultimately disbanded them. The Archives stated they defied gods, saved the City from grave threats on multiple occasions, and even had a morale booster event every so often. It’s been almost a year since their disbanding. And yet, no one talks about them. No matter who I ask, from Shaxx to even Lord Saladin Forge, no one will answer my questions.

“June...” Namjoon stated from over my shoulder, as I once again began pouring over my notes again for probably the fifth time tonight, “It’s getting late. You should sleep.”

I ran fingers through my medium length black hair, swiping my bangs aside. The gel I’d put in it this morning had finally given up. I locked the tablet I had spent the last few hours using, and set it to the table top. The Archives were quiet save the small sounds that the Frame manning the desk would make as it moved about.

“Namjoon.” I replied standing, “I have to know what happened to them. The Tower, no the City, deserves to know. If the Vanguard won’t talk about it I’ll piece the story together myself.”

“I’m sure the Vanguard has their reasons for keeping this information secret. Perhaps what happened to these ‘legends’ as you call them still hasn’t quite set in.”

I sighed, “Has the Firebreak Order replied to our inquiry yet?”

Namjoons frame shook side to side, “No. In fact, I’m pretty sure Commander Wolf simply deleted the message. I received a read receipt from him but that was roughly an hour ago.”

The archives suddenly rocked with a force and I was thrown from my seat and against a wall. My vision flashed white for a moment before I’m sure the floor above me collapsed and I was crushed.

When I awoke next, my body was bent in all sorts of strange angles. I started to untangle myself from the debris and eventually pulled myself free.

“Namjoon!” I called looking from my Ghost.

“Right here Guardian!” Namjoon called back from atop the rubble pile, he floated over to me.

“What just happened?”

Before he could answer the doorway exploded inward and I heard a familiar sound. There came a series of grunts floating on the air, deep and somewhat billowing. It was a language. I narrowed my eyes. Cabal!

I dropped into cover as they started filling the Archives with gunfire. I grabbed for my sidearm only to find the weapon wasn’t there.

“Damn it.” I cursed looking around but had no luck finding it.

“Namjoon.” I whispered, “Can you transmat my rifle from the ship?”

“Which rifle?” he answered

“Bring down my Nightshade.”

I took hold of my Light, loosing a ball of Void Light at the Cabal that had entered the room. Axion darts flooded the room and devoured some of them but there were more still coming inside. It’d be a bit before I could do that again. Light bent around my right hand and a moment later my trusty Nightshade appeared. I quickly checked the magazine, a full 33 rounds. Perfect. I flipped off the safety, and crawled to a better position to fight from, all the while the other Guardians in here began fighting back. We fought ferociously and with help from the other Guardians, drove them back. When we pushed them out of the Archives I looked upwards and my jaw dropped open under my helmet. The skies overhead were shades of orange and red. Fires burned everywhere. Civilians were panicking as the Cabal fired at them. It was also raining, thunder and lightning pierced the sky, though whether it was natural or simply called by the Stormcallers I didn’t know. I refused to watch this go one, especially as the Cabal rounded up our own citizens.

“June!” someone called out, a Titan whose name I never caught. They pointed at a small squad below us, directly in front of the base of the Tower. “Get down there! Take out those Cabal!”

Without a second of hesitation I dove from easily 60 feet up on the Tower to the City below. Immediately as I did a flurry of missiles battered the Tower above me sending debris and rubble scattering all around me. I felt the sheer heat from the munition pin-pricking all over my back. About 8 feet from hitting the ground I hit my glide and slowed myself down. I took aim with Nightshade and opened fire on a squad of Cabal marching towards a group of fleeing civilians. That got their attention. I heard their Centurion bark an order.

“HE WHO BRINGS ME THAT ONE’S DEAD PERSON SHALL BE PROMOTED!” it yelled.

“Dead person?” I muttered, but fought back all the same. Their charge was in vain, and I slew all of them, with a few well placed bursts from my rifle and a little bit of Void manipulation. I knew of an entrance to the Tower Hanger. The shuttles should be evacuating people about now. I heard engines spin up almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind. A single shuttle took off from the hanger, escorted by a pair of city Hawks. I smiled and motioned to a group of people that had previously been running from the Cabal.

“Follow me!” I called out, “The closest Evacuation shuttle is this way!”

A group of about 8 or so people fell into step behind me as I ripped open the door. I picked two young fit men out of them and had Namjoon transmat a couple of weapon down from my stache. I was going to use them as material for modifying some of my better weapons but I figured they’d be better used in their hands.

“You two are gonna help me fight back if we have any run ins.” I told them.

One nodded. The other shook his head. We moved escorting the other 6 people, mostly women and a child. We picked our way through the Tower towards the hanger with no resistance thank the Traveler. I took my weapons back and had my Ghost transmat them back to my vault.

Amanda Holiday took over from there. It was time for me to head up to the Plaza, we had to hold it down until the evacuation was complete. I started making my way up there, cutting through hoards of Cabal as I went when the comms sounded.

“My Ghost keeps tagging these Cabal as ‘Red Legion’,” that was Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard, “Ikora whaddya got?”

“Ruthless; strong,” Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard responded, “and rumor has it they’ve never known defeat.”

“Until today.” Commander Zavala spoke with more confidence than most, typical of the Titan Vanguard and the Vanguard Commander to have this much bravado, “Today they face Guardians.”

I dipped around a corner and onto the Plaza. It was crawling with Cabal and a good number of other Guardians were here holding the line. We had to otherwise the Legion would destroy the shuttles. I couldn’t allow that so I thrust myself into the fray cutting a path to Zavala.

“Commander!” I said taking cover behind a ruined piece of Tower, “What’s the plan to repel this attack?”

“I’m working on it, Guardian, just hold down the Plaza, the people are our priority!” he called back.

Both of us heard a low humming noise.

“HEAVY ARTILLERY INBOUND!” A Hunter yelled out rushing back to us.

“I’ve got us!” Zavala replied and waved his hands. In a flash, a massive domed shield of purple light surround the bunch of us. The missiles slammed into the shield but couldn’t have hoped to break through. When the fire died down, Cabal drop pods entered next even going to far as to drop off a Colossus.

“More Red Legion!” I called snapping my weapon up.

“Show them what Guardians are made of!” Zavala ordered.

Myself and the Hunter surged forward. There were hundreds of Cabal that day. We held the Plaza down for who knows how long before the radio sounded.

“Zavala,” Ikora’s voice reported, she sounded out of breath, “the last of the shuttles is away. But the Speaker... He never made it.”

That sentence sent shivers down my spine. Who would lead us if the Speaker was captured? Or killed? I looked to Zavala with pleading eyes but Ikora’s voice cut in before he could speak.

“I’m going to look for him.”

Zavala turned to me, his gaze almost somber, “I’ve got the Plaza, go with Ikora. Zero, I want you to head back to street level, if any civilians didn’t make it have them rally to these coordinates.

The Hunter nodded, “Consider it done.” and this Zero person made a move and disappeared in a flash of blood red fire. I thought something had vaporized him but Zavala didn’t seem worried.

I stopped thinking about it, Hunters had some crazy movement abilities from what I’d see in both the Archives and in the Crucible and instead I headed toward the Northern part of the Tower.

“Ikora this is June Solaire, what’s your location?” I asked via comms.

As I rounded a corner, I got my answer. A team of Cabal were shooting at something I couldn’t see but didn’t see me yet. Before I could engage a Nova Bomb blasted downward and wiped all of them out.

“Ikora!” I called as the Warlock Vanguard landed gracefully in front of me.

“The Speaker is gone!” she snapped, before turning to a dropship that floated nearby. I could hear it’s main cannon spinning up

“Red Legion! You’ll take no more from us, and you’ll find no mercy in me!”

She jumped towards the ship, blasting it with another Nova Bomb and riding to the ground easily 15 stories down.

“Commander...” I called, “Ikora’s gone. I... I don’t know what to do now.”

“We need to move on that Command Ship, Solaire. Head to the North Courtyard, I’m sending Amanda Holiday to pick you up.”

“Copy.”

As I started making my way towards the plaza Namjoon lagged behind his single eye staring upward.

“Namjoon?” I spoke before looking up. My jaw dropped.

The Traveler had a massive construct in front of it slowly getting closer. Six massive spider-like arms covered its entire surface.

“What the hell is that thing?” I muttered before shaking my head and tapping Namjoon’s side.

The Little Ghost shook slightly, “We need to move. If we take out the Command ship we can stop this nonsense.”

We pushed on, slipping passed the Speaker’s old office and a small team of Red Legion. Just beyond I met Holliday on a balcony where Namjoon and I boarded her Hawk.

“Holliday’s got me Commander, where to?”

Zavala’s voice crackled over the comms, “Get to that Carrier! Now!”

The Hawk listed and shot forward.

“Namjoon, bring down the Exotics!” I had a somewhat mad smirk on my face. It had been too long since I had a reason to use my best gear.

My Ghost called forth from the Vaults a few weapon. First was my Scout Rifle, a remake of the famous MIDA Multitool supposedly held by one of the members of Dagger. The second was an autorifle, the HardLight from Omolon’s new line of weapons. And finally what Warlock wouldn’t have a Sword of sorts now? This one was Reef Paladin tech. I named it the Black Talon. Amanda banked us towards the Cabal’s biggest ship, landing just one Guardian there should spell the end of this battle. I took a moment to catch my breath.

“Namjoon? Any word on raising the blades?” I asked, in reference to the few other Guardians I’d met so far that also wanted to know what happened to Fireteam Dagger.

“No. The comm channels are a mess. I can barely reach anyone without getting stepped on. And those that I can reach are a little preoccupied.”

I didn’t reply. I’d never run missions solo until now. I took a final breath as the back hatch of the Hawk dropped open

Amanda’s head crane from the pilot seat, her eyes locking with mine. She was scared, I couldn’t fault her for it. But whether she was trying to hide it or not I couldn’t tell.

“Alright, Guardian.” She said opening the back hatch, “Time to kick em where it hurts.”

I bailed out of the back, raising MIDA as I did. It had started raining harder now.

“Zavala,” I called over comms, “I’m on the command ship,”

“Good, see if you can find a way to disable its shields the sooner that ship is down the sooner we turn the tide of this battle.”

We pushed ahead, moving throw an open hanger bay where Cabal drop pods were being launched. A small crew was waiting for us, Psions mostly. I gunned them down, even the dumbest of psions were a formidable threat. Namjoon floated over to the console one of them was using.

“Hold them off,” he said, “I’m going to get us a map to the ship and a path to the shield generator.”

I took up a spot with ample cover and waited. The sounds of battle raged outside making me nervous. How were the rest of the Guardians fairing? Were they winning?

“Got it!” Namjoon called out which made me jump, “The generator is directly ahead of us in the heart of their maintenance bay.”

“Then lets get moving.”

We pushed deeper into the ship cutting through hoards of Cabal as we did. They had everything, psions, gladiators, the whole nine. And all of them stood little chance against the force of my Light. I eventually came to a room with a massive rod. It sparked with arc energy. I smiled. As I stepped deeper in I noted how hot it was in here, easily a few hundred degree. Something had to keep this place cool.

“Down there!” Namjoon said nodding off to my left.

I saw a large fan spinning just beneath the end of the rod.

“Traveler knows its gonna be hot in there.” I commented

“We break that fan we overheat the generator. Besides, what’s being a little heat to the guy who saves the City?”

He was right, the cocky bastard, but I took a breath and jumped down. I summoned my light and threw a Vortex grenade onto the fan before following up with some rounds from my Scout rifle. The fan sparked and I heard a low booming noise.

“Temperature’s rising but not fast enough.” Namjoon said, “There has to be more of them.”

The temperature was hot enough that I could see steam starting to rise off of my armor. I jumped back up onto a platform and made my way to another fan. After breaking that one I could feel the heat through my robes, my skin crawled and I could almost smell my hair burning.

“Just one more fan and the shield should overheat.”

I made one final push. After the third fan was broken the rod stopped spinning and the fans spun down with a low whirring noise. The temperature jumped to easily 600 degrees. I had to get out of here, because now the ends of my robes were starting to singe. I could see small embers snaking their way up the hem.

“Zavala!” I yelled over the comms, “The shield is down! Start your assault.”

No one answered as I climbed out of the generator and started running. Namjoon led me outside of the ship.

“Amanda! We’re done here! We need a ride!”

More static.

“ANYBODY STILL FIGHTING??!” I snapped.

When we finally got outside the rain splashing on my armor turned instantly to steam but it snuffed out the burning ends of my armor. That construct around the Traveler still remained. It almost stared at us.

Namjoon and I looked to one another, neither of us knew what to do.

“So Namjoon, how do we come back from this?”

A low booming voice answered me, “You don’t.”

I turned to see one of the ugliest looking Cabal I’d ever seen. He was clad in white armor and had what looked like wings on the back. His skin was pale and covered in what looked like scars, and he wore a rebreather over his face. I took a stance and raised my weapon. And my arms felt heavy. All of me felt heavy. I dropped my weapon and fell to my knees. There was a dull flash as I went down. I felt sick.

“June...” Namjoon groaned, “Something’s wrong.”

Namjoon collapsed out of the air clattering to the ground.

I tried grabbing my Light, tried to summon my Super, a grenade, something! Nothing happened. I glared at this Cabal as he approached.

“Do not look at me creature!”

The back of his hand met my jaw and launched myself and Namjoon down the way. I tumbled end over end trying to land right. When I finally stopped Namjoon was teetering near the edge of the ship. I went to grab him only for some Centurian to get to him first.

“Don’t you dare...” I growled.

And the Centurion tapped the edge of Namjoon’s shell with his foot which tumbled off of the ship. I scrambled but it was too late. My Ghost was gone. I turned back as the commander started towards me.

“You are weak!” He snapped, “Undisciplined! Cowering behind walls! You haven’t won. You’ve merely forgotten the sting of defeat. Allow me to reacquaint you...”

He grabbed me by the helmet, hoisted me off of the ground and ran a wrist blade through my gut. The blade burned like fire as it ripped through me easily. I couldn’t even scream it hurt so badly.

“Feel the sting of your defeat. I am Ghaul. And your Light is mine.”

In my pained haze I just registered his blade withdraw and his grip on my helmet release me dropping off of the side of ship. As I fell through the air I could only think of how we’d lost. I’d now lost everything, my second lease on life, my Ghost, my home. Everything was gone now. I shut my eyes awaiting the impact of the ground below I never felt it as I passed out before then.


	2. Chapter 2

When I woke next everything hurt. I was in a small crater in the concrete in the ruins of the City. My left arm was twisted and useless, I could feel my right shoulder had dislocated and my left ankle was shattered. My stab wound had managed to partially seal up taking parts of my robe with it. None of that mattered, all that mattered was finding Namjoon. All around me, I could hear the sounds of fighting had ceased, the Cabal had done what we all thought impossible. They not only attacked the City they actually took it from us. I wanted to scream. Wanted to yell out that they wouldn’t get away with this. That their leader, Ghaul, wouldn’t live to see another day! But what could I do? I was without my Light. Without Namjoon or my weapons, what could I do against a Cabal invasion? Then it hit me. A moment from my training in the Crucible washed over me and I almost heard the voice of Lord Shaxx.

Survive. Live to fight another day.

I kept my mouth shut and limped down the street. I was trying not to be detected as I moved along. I collapsed for a moment when picking my way down a small flight of stairs just in time for a Cabal ship to look directly at me. I lay still trying to appear like I had just succumb to injuries and died. There was a tense few moments before the ship moved on. Getting back up again after it had passed was awful, and I could feel it getting harder to breath. Regardless I pushed myself up and got moving, I had to find Namjoon. I could hear Cabal messages playing over City intercoms, none of which I could understand. Then I heard a voice and I almost cried. The soothing voice of a Ghost. My Ghost.

“Guardian!” My Ghost called desperately, and I could see him looking around, his eye glowing like a flash light as he searched for me. His voice module sounded damaged, “this is awful.”

I collapsed again, I could feel my lungs filling up with something. Blood. I took one more breath and finally shouted with what little energy I had left.

“GHOST!” I called. I hacked up blood which splattered on the inside of my helmet.

“JUNE!” Namjoon sounded off and floated over to me. I could just hear the relief in his voice, “Thank goodness, I thought I’d lost you.”

I felt a flash of light and my body fixed itself. I shed my helmet and wiped the blood off of my face as well as the inside as well as spitting out what was still in my mouth. I grimaced at the taste of iron on my tongue. When I cleaned up what I could I set my helm back to my head, even damaged it was better than nothing.

“What happened? Where is everyone?” I asked

“I don’t know.” Namjoon sounded defeated already, “Ghaul found a way to cut us off from the Light. I can heal you but I can’t resurrect you. June...if you die...”

I hesitated as he trailed off

“I know.” I finally spoke up, “We need to get out of here. The Cabal will be looking for survivors. Last thing I wanna know is what Cabal do with Prisoners of War.”

We started making our way through the rubble, avoiding conflict wherever possible. I managed to steal a Cabal Slug Rifle but Namjoon couldn’t synthesize ammo for it so it ran out of rounds quickly. Eventually I managed to find a slightly damaged but still working Omolon SMG which he could make ammo for. Though every time he did it took a little more effort. Hours passed. The hours turned to days. I found myself sleeping with my back to a wall and a weapon in hand simply out of fear that the Cabal would find me. By our third day moving out of the City, Namjoon finally spoke again.

“I finally got connection to the Emergency Channel. The Vanguard is evacuating the planet.”

“Great...” I muttered. I wanted to throw something. I wish I had shot Ghaul when I had the chance.

After 4 days of traveling Namjoon and I found ourselves in the mountains north of the City. I watched as more and more Cabal ships arrived every day and their occupation got worse. In a moment of frustration I pointed my SMG up at an incoming ship and with a mighty shout opened fire. I wasted a whole magazine aiming for a ship well out of range.

“Guardian please! Try to calm down!” Namjoon urged

Catching my breath, I turned and headed deeper into the mountains. We encountered many things during our travels, wolves and mountain lions mostly. But one encounter stood out to me. At Twilight Gap, nearly two weeks into our journey to who knew where, Namjoon and I encountered a falcon. It screeched at us from it’s perch on a branch and then flew away to another perch, this on a rock flanking the entrance to a pass between the mountains before screeching at us again. I tilted my head and approached slowly. It flapped its wings and flew deeper into the mountain pass.

“I think it wants us to follow it.”

“No sense in saying no, June, we’ve no real direction.”

So the two of us followed this Falcon. We tracked it for another two weeks before I made a misstep. Losing your footing in the Mountains was never a good thing and I tumbled into a clearing 60 feet below our path. But what, or rather who, I encountered next caused me to smile so big I thought my cheeks would cramp.

“Well look at this.” a feminine voice said, a dark skinned woman approached me, and yanked me to my feet, “Someone left a perfectly good Guardian laying around.”

“That Falcon belongs to you?” I asked barely able to keep myself upright. The last few days had been hard, hunting with a SMG wasn’t exactly optimal.

“That’s right. Name’s Hawthorne, and this is Louis.”

The Falcon perched on her forearm

“My name is June and this is Namjoon my Ghost.”

“Well met. There’s a ship and a gun for you if you can still fight. We’ve been gathering survivors as we find them. You’re probably the best find in months. Just hop aboard and follow us. Got a safe place, ain’t much but its better than being out here.”

I would come to know her as Suraya Hawthorne and her safe haven as The Farm. When our ships banked in after a rough 8 hour flight I saw what she meant. The farm was small, nestled in the hills somewhere outside of a city in what I want to say was Golden Age Denmark.

“There’s room for you in the barn, we’re still pickin’ up stragglers from the City so seeing you here might reassure them.”

That was in spite of the fact that I had no Light, none of my weapons and my armor was damaged very very badly. I needed new gear if I wanted to present anyone with even a remote glimmer of hope. Now was not the time for that. I needed food, water and rest. Striking back at the Cabal could wait until I’d recovered my strength. Days became weeks. And eventually I stopped tracking the time. Hawthorne kept us busy tending the farm, keeping the animals fed and the barn clean. Some of us tended the fields, others became scouts, looking out for supplies survivors and enemies. I found myself among the scouts for a little while, despite having no Light I was still a force to be reckoned with. Then suddenly my dreams began.

I saw a section of the forest, near the edge of the EDZ. My vision flew me all over to a ruined water processing plant, then back into the woods and finally to a clearing crawling with Fallen. They were kneeling before something, a white piece of stone, dug deep into the ground. I felt it call out, desperate to impart a gift onto one of its Chosen. I had that dream 3 times before I’d seen enough.

“Really?” Hawthorne chided when I told her, “You’re just going to up and leave us?”

“Its a Shard of the Traveler.” I replied, “and its called out to me three times in the past three nights, there’s no way its just a dream.”

“I’m telling you to let it go. You’re having a hard time coping with losing the City and I know that’s hard and all-”

“I’m going.” I told her, “You can’t stop me.”

So Namjoon and I left, heading towards the outer wall of the EDZ.

“You know,” Hawthorne called over comms, “This place is called a Dead Zone for a reason right?”

“We have to try this Hawthorne,” I answered and cut the feed.

“June. If there’s even a remote hope that this is real...” Namjoon trailed off.

“I know.” I answered and pressed beyond the wall into the EDZ.

We picked our way through a series of caverns and eventually came face to face with an old foe. I saw shifting light crawl down a set of columns holding the roof of the cave up. I raised my SMG.

“Don’t tell me...”

Then I heard commands shouted in Eliksni. I gritted my teeth

“Fallen!”

And like an angry flood they surrounded me. I retaliated with what I could muster and eventually fought my way out to the surface.

“Strange.” Namjoon commented, “Those Fallen weren’t wearing Scar colors.”

The House of Scar, according to the Cobalt Journals, was a House of Eliksni that one of the members befriended, their Kell aided them during a Raid against Oryx, the Taken King.

“So they’re not Svadis’ house...then who do they belong to?” I wondered aloud.

That question we’ve yet to answer. Nevertheless we pressed on pushing deeper into the woods. After another round or two with the Fallen we came upon a large contingent of them guarding a path forward, just like the one in my dreams.

“Damn it!” I cursed under my breath.

Their numbers were too much for just one Lightless Guardian, but we couldn’t stop now. I had to try, even if Namjoon couldn’t revive me if I died. I heard a shot ring out, and watched a Captain’s shield fail and his head snap sideways. The creature dropped into a heap and its underlings frantically began searching for the source of the shot. My comms cracked to life.

“Eyes up, Guardian!” The voice spoke.

More shots rang out and the Fallen began to scatter, caught completely off guard. I used the chaos to get through their ranks, taking down a few Fallen with some well placed SMG shots. Normally if I got within melee range I’d have used my Force Palm but without the Light when I extended my hand the Dreg in front of me tilted his head confused. I curled my fingers into a fist and slugged the Dreg in the jaw sending it staggering backwards before gunning it down. More sniper shots rang out as I made my way uphill.

“You’re close now! I can’t cover you from here. Give me a sec to displace.”

“Who are you?” I replied, glancing around trying to spot this sniper. It wasn’t Hawethorne from what I could tell, her voice didn’t sound right.

I received no answer. Not wanting to waste any more time I headed further up the hill and came face to face with the stone. And the Fallen that knelt before it, worshiping. There was no doubt in my mind now. This stone was a shard of the Traveler.

“Clear them out!” Namjoon called.

I did so with more well placed SMG rounds and my new shotgun Hawthorne gave me. A Captain I missed however got the jump on me. I thought it was going to finish me but one last sniper shot rang out and the Captain stumbled forward, shot in the back. I sprang, raising my shotgun and firing its last round. The Captain’s chest exploded in a puff of ether and blood. When all was said and done I stood before the shard in awe. Namjoon slowly floated up to it, his shell still damaged from our escape from the City.

“I haven’t been this close to the Traveler since...” he trailed off then whipped towards me. If a Ghost could glare, Namjoon would have, “hold on to your helmet.”

I didn’t have time to brace for it. Instead I watched as Namjoon’s edges spread wide and Light flooded into him, then it blasted into me. It was almost like wires were being reconnected in the back of my mind. There was something else as well. I saw a vast expanse of white, and a humanoid figure standing maybe 10 feet from me. He only muttered a single phrase before my mind snapped back to reality.

“Reforge the blade.”

I had no idea what that meant as I found myself on my feet again, with all the strength in the world at my fingertips. I felt my strength return. This morning I woke up tired and weak. Now I felt that with just a thought I could will a planet into the sun. The light died away and I smiled big. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. But instead I just dropped to my knees.

“Do you feel it?” Namjoon asked.

“The Light is back!” I replied balling a fist, “We’re back!”

I heard some noises coming from the bushes nearby. More Fallen.

“Eyes up, Guardian.”

I summoned the light in its simplest form, a sword of fire appeared in my hand and my body became wreathed in Solar Light. Flaming wings sprouted from my back and I took a stance ready to fight. I unleashed my burning light upon the Fallen when they filled the grove with gun fire. Every swing of my blade launched a wave of fire at them, of course I used it as a normal sword as well. It would be roughly 20 minutes before the fighting died down.

“Well fought, Guardian.” that voice called over comms again.

“Who are you?” I replied looking around to trying to see if this girl was still in the area.

“I’m no one of consequence.”

I heard a sound off to my left. I turned my weapon that way. From the brush came a woman in armor. Guardian armor. It was a mix of green and grey. Her boots stood out, namely the quiver on the side, sitting in it were 3 dark purple arrows. Her gauntlets had blades along the forearms. Her cloak was long, didn’t fit the rest of the set, especially since she probably didn’t want it to catch on anything here in these woods. She held an SMG in her hands that I’d never seen before, she also had a sniper rifle and a sword on her back crossed in an x. I recognized the sword, it was one of the three Sacred Swords. Bolt Caster.

“Hey, Rookie, you’re staring.” she said in a sly manner, then let out a low giggle, I could feel her smirking.

“You. You’re her! You’re Luisa Dodge aren’t you?!” I exclaimed.

“The one and only.” She crossed her arms after setting her SMG to her hip, “So what brings a Kinderguardian all the way out here?”

I had to shake off my stupor. I was face to face with the God slayer herself, the leader of Fireteam Dagger.

“M-my name is June, June Solaire of the Order of the Blades. I came here because the Shard called out to me.”

I felt her roll her eyes, “Am I that intimidating to newbies? Relax, Guardian, I don’t bite.”

She giggled next before clearing her throat, “Okay so the Shard called out to you as well?”

“Mrs. Dodge-”

The Hunter raised a hand with her palm facing me, a sort of stop motion, “Please, Luisa is fine.”

“Luisa, you’ve been missing for nearly a year, what happened?”

“I needed to return to the wilds, figure some stuff out. Anyways, you were cut off from the Light too huh? What’d you do to piss off the Traveler?”

“Nothing. The Cabal attacked the City. Captured it. Either captured or killed the Speaker. The Vanguard is scattered along with all the other Guardians. Most of us don’t have our powers anymore because they had a machine that cut us off from the Light.”

She turned away humming in thought, “That was not something I was expecting to hear today.” Then she shrugged her shoulders almost casually, “Fuck it. I guess its time to come out of the Wilds. Are you and the survivors set up anywhere?”

I nodded, “A civilian, Suraya Hawthorne, has a farm where we are taking up shelter for the moment. It isn’t much but it is something.”

“Sounds like the place to be. I can start bringing Guardians here. The more of us with our powers back, the better we can strike back against the Cabal.”


	3. Chapter 3

When we finally made it back to the Farm, Luisa and I both received strange looks. It was almost as if people knew what had happened.

“I’ll let Hawthorne know you’re here.” I told her.

“Finally! A familiar face!” I heard someone shout. Another Guardian?

Luisa put her hands on her hips and shook her head as a Titan approached us. She was wearing whatever gear she seemed to be able to cobbled together.

“Hey Rin.” Luisa greeted.

Rin Kishimoto was the Director of Operations for the Firebreak Order, supposedly she had a history with Dagger but none of the Blades were quite sure what kind of history that was.

The Titan threw her arms around Luisa, “We all thought you were dead, Lu! Where have you been?”

“Figuring some stuff out.” she answered, “Have any of the other members made it here?”

Rin shook her head, “I haven’t seen Wolf or Pluto or anyone else since the City was attacked.”

“I’m sure we’ll find them eventually. Those three aren’t ones to go down easily.”

I went to find Hawthorne, who was standing on the balcony overlooking the farm. Lord Shaxx and Arcite were here too. Good. The more veteran Guardians the better. When she saw me, Hawthorne smiled.

“Well look at you.” she said, “You got your Light back.”

I only nodded and explained our situation.

“So that’s who that other Guardian is? Well more hands around are always nice. I’m glad for you and your friend, cause we’re gonna need it.”

I nodded my head, “Sounds good but Luisa’s going to stay here. Start bringing Guardians to the Shard, even if the Shard can only give them a fraction of their powers back, any help we can get taking back the City-” she cut me off

“So that’s it then? You just want your City back? Look I get it, but we have bigger problems here at the Farm. We need supplies. And with Fallen on one side and Cabal on the other staying alive out here is a battle in and of itself.”

“2 things,” I countered, “First, it was your decision to live outside the walls knowing it’d be harder so don’t think that we’re just going to leave you in the dust. That’s not the way Guardians operate. Second, once more Guardians start getting their powers back I’ll have a small squad stay here and aid the Farm. With Luisa’s help that should go rather quickly.”

Hawthorne bit her lip but sighed, “Fine, but I’m holding you to that. There are a lot more survivors out there and they need out help. We’ve gotta get the word out that the farm is a Safe Haven. I sent a friend into the EDZ a few hours ago to set up a comm network. His name’s Devrim Kay. Good guy. Great shot.” she paused then added, “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Awesome, I’ll consider this a personal favor. His last known location was a church in a small town square in a place called Trostland. Good luck, Guardian.”

I got going almost immediately. Trostland was crawling with activity, on one hand you have the Fallen scavenging like they usually did and on the other you had the Red Legion who were on a mission to kill everything that wasn’t Cabal. Why that entailed taking the Traveler was beyond me. Regardless when I landed in Trostland the very first thing I saw was a squad of Cabal moving towards the church. I heard a few rounds fired and the Cabal responded in kind. I gritted my teeth.

“HEY!” I snapped stomping towards them, “You fuckers remember me?”

I summoned the Dawnblade as they turned to fight back. I barely gave them the chance. With a single swing of the blade, a wave of fire lashed out at them like an angry whip. There were no remains of them except ashes scattered on the wind. I calmed myself, letting my fire die down. Next I moved into the church. Thankfully Devrim knew I was friendly and didn’t shoot me. I approached him as he stared out of the window of the church’s main tower.

“Devrim Kay?” I asked.

The old man turned around, “You must be Suraya’s friend. Devrim Kay, City Militia at your service.”

“Good to meet you. Hawthorne said you needed some help?”

“Indeed. Of late I’ve been tracking someone not from here. They move about at seemingly random times, almost like they’re lost or something. Perhaps one of your Guardian friends lost without their powers.”

“You sure?”

“90% sure. If you head out of here through the left door there should be a building with a symbol on it. He seems to have taken up residence there.”

I nodded, “I’ll check it out Dev.”

I headed out shortly after getting on comms with him. He requested Namjoon stay with him. I assured him I’d be fine and headed towards the building he mentioned. Shortly after I found the building. Painted on the wall was an odd looking symbol. 3 arches of various sizes stacked atop one another and a single dot underneath the arch

“Dev,” I keyed, “I’ve found the symbol. I don’t recognize it.”

“I believe your Hunters use that symbol to mark locations of either significant interest or high danger. Either way, be careful.”

I steadied my Shotgun and proceeded inside. There was a series of tunnels dug out to lead around the wreckage and eventually the area opened up on the other side of the building. These looked like they might have been shops or restaurants at some point and now they’d been gutted to act as nothing but a glorified hallway. I pushed on and came face to face with a Fallen holding a Spear. I raised my weapon to fire but he didn’t move.

“Sha’ir!” he exclaimed.

“Yes,” I replied. All the Blades knew Eliksni to a certain degree. Sha’ir directly translated meant “Light Thief” but with the correct localization is was more akin to “Light bearer”. Guardian.

He motioned me to follow and led me further down the path.

“Be careful Guardian, I’m tracking your location. You’re headed right to the Heart of a Fallen den.”

“They haven’t tried fighting me at all,” I answered, “one of their sentries is leading me somewhere.”

“Ah so those are the ones your Hunter friend told me about. Well, see if they can do anything for us. Helping the Farm would be appreciated.”

“Does Hawthorne know about them?”

“If all goes well with you speaking to their Kell she’ll know within the hour.”

I entered this massive throne room. In front of me sat the largest Eliksni I’d seen up to that point. He sat upon a throne of gold. In his left set of arms he held tightly to the barrel of a sniper rifle that sported a Vangaurd paint job. He also had a sword laying against his throne. I’d only ever seen record of one person holding that sword. That was the Young Wolves Howl, and I knew I stood before the Kell of Scar.

“Svadis of Scar.” I breathed awestruck. Even the Cobalt Journals only hinted at him being real, “You are real!”

“I am very real, Light Bearer. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“I came at the advice of a human on the surface. One Devrim Kay.”

“The sharpshooter in the church? I suppose he hasn’t the stones to come down here himself. I cannot blame him, tension between humanity and the Eliksni are still somewhat rocky since the House of Devils betrayal.”

“The SIVA Crisis? You speak of the SIVA Crisis?”

“I do. I lost a dear friend the day the Devil Splicers were defeated. Many more Eliksni to the subsequent war. And with the Cabal, these Red Legion as they call themselves, wreaking havoc across Sol I had no choice to come here.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Venus. Near the Ishtar Collective. We arrived the second day of the occupation and sadly were unable to break their hold on the City. With the Traveler captured I am afraid our forces are of little help. So we retreated here, to the rebirthing place of my friend, he who let me live when others would not.”

“Who was that person? If you don’t mind my asking, Kell of Scar?”

“His is a name we hold sacred in my House. I believe you would know him as Cobalt.”

Jayden Cobalt. The legend himself. Then the rumors were true. Jayden was dead and Dagger broken.

“I see.”

“You held to a hope.”

I flinched.

“I had also held to a hope. Held to even the smallest amount that our greatest friend among the Lightbearers might still be alive. But after his mate told me what had transpired in the Cosmodrome I simply had to let go. My House celebrates him now. The day of his passing is remembered by silence and fasting as is tradition for any of the Eliksni Heroes.”

“I am sure he would be honored. And I am also sure that he would appreciate you helping to take the City back.”

Svadis leaned forward, “Now you have my interest, Light Bearer. Tell me something. How exactly is my House in a position to aid anyone? We are now barely able to help ourselves without the Great Machine and the Light.”

“There is a Farm. A quaint little place just outside of town. It is the shelter for the survivors of the City’s occupation. They’re security is not very good and the Red Legion strike at it every day. They are in desperate need of aid. I come on their behalf, will you aid us?”

Svadis sighed, “I cannot. My own are spread thin. We’ve the Cabal on one side and another splinter group, the House of Dusk to contend with.”

“Surely they’ve a leader. Perhaps we could take them out?”

The Kell sat back, his four eyes glanced towards his Sword. He sighed.

“You simply will not let me forget will you?” the Kell returned his gaze to me, “Very well Guardian I’ll help you on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“You must prove to me you are able to take the battle to the Red Legion. Show me strength that speaks of how you will defeat them and grind their bones into dust.”

I shrugged, “Very well then.”

I focused my Light tugging at it and summoned my Dawnblade. The hall of Eliksni surrounding me stepped back, some bowed, other took fighting stances. Svadis only seemed pleased. His throat rattled, the kind of throaty growl the Eliksni did when not quite laughing but are clearly amused.

“Fitting that I would encounter one who would remind me one of my closest friends and allies.” he stood “The Great Cobalt has spoken to us this day, my Scar. We move to aid the City’s denizens wherever we may find them.”

And House Scar roared in approval.

“Send me the Farm’s location and my soldiers will be there by nightfall. Today shall mark the last day that a City denizen falls to the Red Legion and their cruelty.”

I keyed back to Devrim, “There’s been an arrangement made, Devrim, these Eliksni are heading to the Farm to help escort refugees from the City.”

“The lost will need to know that. Suraya and I can work on getting the message out. For now, come back to the church. I’ve something for you.”

I had Svadis tap me in to their comms before I sent them the Farms location. As I went to leave I caught one final shout from him

“House Scar! Prepare yourselves for battle once more! The Red Legion shall kill no more humans this day!”

A sentry escorted me out of their lair. I thanked him with a slight bow before heading back towards the Church tower. I climbed the step to Devrim’s perch and greeted him when I’d reach the top.

“Good to see you again, June. With the Scars help on the Farm, your Guardians can begin searching for a winning strategy against the Legion.” Dev commented smiling.

“You said you had something for me?”

“Two things actually.”

He started rummaging through some of his gear, “While the submachine gun is very nice at closer ranges I don’t imagine it does too well against longer ranged offenses. So here you may want this.”

He handed me a longer rifle.

“That’s an old militia rifle. Scavenged that one from an old cache nearby. She works like a charm.”

“And the other thing?”

He whistled, “You can come out now.”

Namjoon floated around from a pillar, he seemed nervous.

“I know you worked hard on my shell during the Crucible but Devrim offered and I couldn’t say no.”

His shell was polished, brand new almost. It was a dark green color though, as if it was the only color Devrim had access to. But regardless of color scheme Namjoon’s shell looked brand new

“Namjoon.” I catcalled, “Look at you all clean and shiny again. You have a hot date or something tonight?”

“Please, June we have more important things to worry about.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to Dev, “Thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart Dev this means a lot to us.”

Devrim chuckled, “Its no trouble at all, Suraya and I will be working on Comms tomorrow, meet me out here, we’ll need you to plant some beacons in some rather dangerous areas. Are you up for it?”

“Hell yeah I’m up for it!”

“Good to hear. Be here bright eyed and bushy tailed at just after dawn. We’ll get started then. In the mean time feel free to explore Trostland to your hearts content. Just be careful this place is still dangerous even for Guardians.”

Namjoon and I headed out and boarded our ship. Today had been a long day and we could explore Trostland later. All I wanted to do now was head back to the Farm and rest.

When we arrived I was surprised to see the Farm packed to the brim with House of Scar Eliksni. They manned the entry points, escorted civilians from the wilds and had look outs on top of both the Barn where the Guardians stayed and on the Main house where Suraya and the refugees were set up. Of course both buildings could only hold so much. Scouts had shifted priorities to finding shelter for everyone. Thankfully they had been scouring parts of former Germany and finding a bunch of military grade stuff, namely portable shelters.

“Its coming along nicely.” A voice said catching off guard. It was Luisa.

“Yeah.” I answered.

“You like those?” she said pointing to the tents, “Scouts call ‘em Airbeams. Scavenged those bad boys from a warehouse in Central Germany. They’re an entire tent you just fill with air and BOOM instant shelter.”

“Really? With bedding and everything?”

She shrugged, “I mean if you have a sleeping bag or a mat and blanket yeah but there’s more to them than that. They’ve got there weird holes in the sides. They’re not damaged the holes look too...I dunno intentional. I’m gonna have the scouts go back with some Eliksni and see if they can’t find us more of them or the parts that go with them in the morning. In the meantime the civilians just have to take what they can get.”

I nodded.

“Speaking of the Eliksni, where did you finds the Scars? I haven’t seen Svadis in literal years.”

“You know him?”

“He was a friend of my husband’s. Hell, he helped me kill Oryx back...what, 3 years ago now?”

“So you actually did that? Killed Oryx, the Taken King I mean.”

“Yeah we did. Gave his heart to Eris Morn as proof. Course then she disappeared.”

I had never heard of Eris Morn before now. Who was that supposed to be I wondered.

“Thanks for finding him.” She commented changing the subject, “Svadis and his troop have been a major help bringing civilians here and giving our own security some relief.”

“Any Guardians come back yet? I mean I know you and I have our Light back.”

“Rin, the Titan you met yesterday, got her’s back about an hour ago but the process was pretty rough on her, she’s recovering in the barn right now. Others have had some luck as well. It seems like the shard needs time to recover almost. Like it has a limit of how many Guardians it can give powers to.”

“Then we may need to stop sending everyone and their mother to it.”

“Nah, it just means that a Guardian getting their Light back will take a bit longer. What’s on your agenda now?

“Helping Devrim and Hawthrone set up comms tomorrow.”

“Beacon runner?”

I nodded

“Gotcha, always hated that job. If you need extra hands though I’ll be glad to go. Lords know I need to get off the Farm. All of this mission coordination is making me antsy.”

“I bet Rin can fill in for you when she’s better.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Anyway you should turn in for the night. The Barn has a couple of tents tied to it so there’s plenty of room.”

“Thanks, Lu.”

I headed to one of the many Airbeam tents surrounding the Barn. I yawned when I found a spot that wasn’t too uneven.

“We really should see about finding a sleeping bag.” Namjoon pointed out

“One step at a time. Tomorrow we have an adventure ahead and I’ve a feeling its going to be a very busy day.”


	4. Chapter 4

Sleeping was pretty easy once I found the hay bails. I stank to high heaven the next day but I slept like a rock. I woke up and took a walk to the nearby river and took a quick dip before getting new clothes on. My armor wasn’t much to speak of anymore, more or less a relic left behind to remember the Fall. I had as good of armor as any at this point. I tied a length of rope around my left arm just to feel like I was still a Warlock. By this bond I would reclaim the City, even if I had to do it alone. I started taking note of the other Guardians here. Most had shed their old gear as it was no longer viable. Seeing them like this felt devastating. Guardians were supposed to possess armor sets that people could look at and tell you were one, and with that came a hope that they would see tomorrow. Now we looked like them. What hope could you look to then? I need to fashion new gear. New weapons. We needed to be beacons to them.

I set aside my thoughts, it was time to go. I hopped aboard my ship and flew over to Trostland, meeting Devrim in the church.

“I’ve sent coordinates to your Ghost, takes these beacons and set them up.” He instructed handing me three beacons.

The first spot was an easy placement, right outside of the church near the entrance to the Scars lair. The next was a little further out, right outside of the square. As I made my way there I heard a noise. I turned my eyes to the sky and above me a massive Ketch flew overhead. I keyed a channel.

“Scar lead, Blade 1.”

There was a pause then a wash of static before finally an answer.

“Go ahead Blade 1.”

“Is that Ketch over Trostland yours?”

“Negative, my Ketch was repainted to better represent my House. That is a Dusk Ketch.”

“Dev you get that?”

Devrim was quick to answer, “I copy. That Ketch is carrying equipment for an Ether resupply according to preliminary scans.”

“If possible, capture their Servitor, House Scar could always use more Ether.”

I bit my lip, and then had Namjoon transmat the Beacons to my ship. A large group of Dusk started to emerge from the buildings nearby, they looked hungry. Upon seeing me they sneered. I heard curses thrown at me. Called me monster, thief, and murderer. I rolled my eyes. I knew where my allegiances lay.

I raised my rifle as the Servitor descended from above. I fired 3 rounds. Warning shots.

“A Light Bearer!” The Servitor clicked, “What interest have you in Ether?”

“Ether is poisonous to humans! Just leave us in peace!”

“The Scar Kell would have you serve a greater cause, Dusk.” I told them

“Oh yeah! The great cause of servitude to you! We were slaves once before, and we will die before we are slaves again!”

I tilted my head, “Who made you slaves?”

The Servitor faced me, “Fikrul Scarsbane. He was exiled from House Scar. In his madness he began gathering Eliksni who had yet to join the Scar. Made us slaves. It seems no matter what banner we serve under we will always be slaves.”

I keyed open, “Svadis! Tell these Dusk what they can be in House Scar.”

“My people!” He began, “House Scar stands for the Great Machine. We honor our legacy through our work in its name. If that work is to aid the humans in their endeavors let it be so! Come to House Scar, where Ether is plentiful and more hands are always appreciated. I am Svadis, Kell of Scar, join my ranks and see victory and peace everlasting.”

Something in that speech struck a nerve. A good majority of them nodded. All except one.

A Captain stepped from their ranks and drew a pair of swords.

“This one lies!” he snapped, “Scar’s Kell has been dead for centuries! This is a trap! And we will not fall for it!”

He rushed me. I summoned Daybreak as he struck, bringing the weapon up to block, catching both swords along the flat of my own blade.

“What reason have I to lie to you?” I asked, “I gain nothing from deceit, young Eliksni.”

“You’re a thief! Your kind only take! You’ve not once given to us!”

“I give you the opportunity to make your situation better and you refuse to accept it. It is therefore not my fault if you suffer as a result.”

He roared in anger and raised his blades again to strike. With a beat of my wings, I dashed to the left and set the edge of the blade to his throat.

“This fight is over,” I said, my tone not of anger, but of cold sternness, “Put down your weapons or I will kill you.”

There was a long pause before the crowd began calling out. They begged me. Begged the Captain as well.

“Surrender, Zanriks.”

“Please don’t kill him.”

“He’s a good Eliksni, please let him live!”

I looked to him again.

“Its your choice, Zanriks. Lay down your weapons, or I strike you down where you stand.” I told him.

He hesitated but finally his grip released on his swords. As they clattered to the cobblestone ground I willed my fire away. Daybreak broke apart, scattering into embers.

“Zanriks.” I commented trying to sound sincere, “Its a powerful name.”

He nodded his head, “I await whatever slavery you have in store.”

“Not slavery.” the comms chimed in, “Service, yes, but you are free as any other. You may come and go from the Scars den as you please, so long as when you are called you come in services of the Great Machine I will not stand in your way. Ether is plentiful in House Scar. Your Dregs will become strong again. We shall gift them new arms and grant them their rightful strength.”

Zanriks stood, “Are you actually him?”

The ground shook, another Ketch came in from the west. This one was painted a dark red, almost like blood. It sported the emblem of the Vanguard, an etching of the Traveler and one more symbol. My jaw dropped when I saw it. Plastered on the bow right below the Scars banner was a ring of fire. Within the ring sat a guitar and a sword, the Raze Lighter, crossed in an x. Set forward of it, was the number 5. That was the Code of Cobalt. It was a 1 for 1 copy of the etchings on the Cobalt Journals. Svadis really did know Jayden Cobalt before he died.

“I shall take care of these people, Guardian.” Svadis said, “Continue setting up your communications network.”

I placed the second beacon and made my way back towards the opposite side of Trostland. As I made my way through the broken shops, I started to smell something. Ozone. I grimaced at the awful stentch.

“What is it, June?” Namjoon asked.

“I don’t know,” I raised my rifle, “Namjoon, run a scan around us, I need to-”

Rips in reality began forming around us and suddenly spectral creatures were upon us. They shambled and shook as if being puppeted by some unseen force, and they all smell of ozone

“Damn it.” I cursed and opened fire.

“I’m hearing shots fired, Guardian, is everything alright?” Devrim called.

“These...things have decided to make East Trostland their new home.”

“Copy that, hold them off for just a moment, I’m sending reinforcements.”

That was easier said than done. I opened fire with my rifle, picking off what could have been Thrall before having to back up. More shapes, these ones of Acolytes and Phalanxes appeared next. I hurled a Solar grenade at the Acolytes to keep them at bay and focused my gunfire on the Phalanxes. After a few minutes or so of fighting a Wizard appeared. She screamed and commanded the others. I fell back after being flanked twice. I heard a sound, an arrow being knocked in a Duskbow. A Shadowshot!

A purple arrow zipped passed me striking the Wizard dead center of her chest. The anchors grabbed everything else. I returned fire as a Voidwall grenade and a smoke bomb landed in the pile. The shadows fell faster than they could appear. A Hunter landed next to me, her SMG shouldered. Luisa had appeared.

“Need a hand?”

“Please!”

With our combined fire we mowed down these creatures with easy and the Wizard merely growled at us before attacking. I summoned Daybreak and let its fire feast. When the Wizard fell I took a breath and dismissed Daybreak.

“What took ya?” I asked

“Ship troubles. Had a hydraulic line bust on me.”

“Gross.”

“Anyways, Dev said you had a problem. Came as soon as I could. He didn’t say it was the Taken though so color me surprised.”

“Wait, the Taken? As in Oryx’s army?”

“The very same. Though I didn’t think they’d still be around, what with their King dead and all.” She cleared her throat and changed the subject, “So how goes the comm set up?”

“I have one more beacon to place before we’re done. Should be right at the end of the road here.”

We stuck together in case of any more threats, especially the Taken. Just them being here was a risk to the Farm. Namjoon stopped us and had me place the final beacon.

“Alright.” I called back to Devrim, “Beacons are in position.”

“Very good. Suraya. The comms are yours.”

“Standing by to start them up and...”

We waited for a second before we heard a sigh, “Dev, my remote hub just fried. You have a spare?”

“And a team to get it to you. Mrs Dodge, could you and your friend deliver this part to Suraya for me?”

“Sure thing Dev, we’ll meet you at the church.”

The two of us started back towards the Church in Trostland Proper.

“Okay so I don’t mean to sound like a fan boy or anything but you did kill Oryx right?”

Luisa nodded, “Put a Shadowshot right through his chest. Watched his dead ascendant corpse float away from the Dreadnaught for roughly an hour just recovering from the amount of effort it took. Oryx is dead. No doubt about it.”

“Okay then who would have the power to command the Taken?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Pluto would probably know more but I haven’t seen him since Jayden died.”

“Wait, like THE Pluto? Pluto Rahndall?”

“That’s him. Been a good friend of mine since the Gap.”

“But the Cobalt Journals say he was lost to time?”

“Oh so the Blades are followers of my late husbands journals? Neat.”

I stopped for a second, “I’m sorry. I forgot you were a couple.”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant don’t believe everything you read. Wolf Jay and I busted Pluto out of the Vault years ago. He’s been with us ever since.”

“And you haven’t seen him since Jayden died?”

“I’ll be frank, kid, I haven’t seen a lot of people since Jayden died. Locked up my house maybe a week later. Threw all of his stuff in a storage locker that’s probably buried in the City. Took a patrol mission in the EDZ and never went back.”

“So you have no idea where Pluto might be?”

“Nope. Though my best guess would put him on Io.”

“Io? Why Io?”

“Io was the last place the Traveler touched before the collapse.” I could almost feel her making a face at me under her helmet, “Shit, I thought all Warlocks knew about Io.”

We arrived in Trostland square as she finished her statement.

“So what about David Notos? Any guess where he might be?”

“Dwindler’s Ridge? His Vault in Japan? Hell, he might just be on Mars. Those are about the only places I could think of.”

“One last speculation.”

I felt her roll her eyes as we entered Devrim’s church, “Sure, I’ll humor you.”

“Where’s Wolf-7?”

She actually sighed at that question, “Ah Wolf. Such a loyal little Titan. I put glimmer down that says he’s wherever Commander Zavala or Deputy Sloane are. The fact the Rin isn’t with him is pretty surprising.”

We found Devrim in his usual spot.

“Hey Dev,” Luisa said, “Priority one mail service is here to pick up your part.”

Devrim handed her a chip no bigger than a pistol round.

“Get this to Hawthorne as soon as you can. Fastest way to her is through through the mines.”

“Oh goody more underground.” Luisa smiled

“We’ll get it done Dev, count on it.”

“Be careful down there, the mines are very dangerous and crawling with Dusk extremists. They won’t be swayed.”

“Gotcha, the Fallen in there are fair game. Come on Rookie we’ve got a delivery to make.”

Luisa led the way down to the mines and our delivery began.


	5. Chapter 5

The Mines beneath Trostland were a new addition courtesy of the House of Dusk needing both a home and a place to harvest Glimmer. Luisa and I picked our way carefully through the various shafts and tunnels they had dug out. This place was less of a mine and more an ant hill, there were tunnels that could’ve led to anywhere. We wanted to find a way through to the other side of the mountains.

“There’s an old mine elevator down there. It should still be working, but getting there won’t be easy.” Devrim told us, “The mine is crawling with Fa- I mean, House of Dusk forces. Be careful in there.”

“You may call them Fallen.” I heard Svadis chime in, “I tried to reason with them on many occasions, I’ve only been met with gun fire and corpses. I recognize that there are some of my kind who are beyond saving in this life, and that your only course of action is to send them to the next. Fight well Mrs. Dodge, and you too boy.”

Luisa and I move deeper into the mines ducking around corners and following the mine cart track until we came to a maintenance shaft. There were Fallen in here, Vandal with wire rifles patrolled the upper scaffolding while their Dregs mined for Glimmer. I raised my rifle but Luisa put a hand on it and forced the barrel down shaking her head as she did.

“On my signal, get over to the elevator and call it.”

“What’s the signal?”

I felt her smirking, “Trust me, you’ll know it.”

She slipped away from me disappearing into the dark. I waited there, anxious. I kept near the corner watching the Vandals continue their rounds, then I heard a noise, a strange scraping noise like a blade had been pulled from the Void. The Vandals heard it too and leveled their weapons, however they didn’t see anything. To fair neither did I. A moment later I heard a scream, a Vandal had been impaled in the back by a pair of purple blades. They jutted from his front a solid 4 inches. The blades pulled free revealing nothing holding them, then they vanished into the black of the mines. The Vandal slumped to his knees and then fell sideways, it had died almost instantly.

“SHA’IR!” A second Vandal shouted and the guards spread out.

Luisa appeared out of the black again, this time on the far side of the room, splitting another Vandal in half at the waist. She slide along the platform and flung her body up into a backflip, separating a third Vandal’s arms as she went. She swung one final time stabbing the Vandal through the mask before vanishing again.

“GO NOW!” Luisa snapped. Her voice carried far. I wasn’t sure if she simply could yell that loud or if it was because of the echo off of the walls that made her sound louder than she was.

I sprinted across the way as more Vandals rushed the room and filled it with gunfire. By the time they arrived though I already called the elevator. I turned my rifle and started firing back, catching a Vandal in the shoulder and another in the head before ducking back to cover. Luisa appeared in the middle of their ranks, her blades were gone again. She whistled. Every one of them turned and roared but that was all they could muster up. Luisa jumped up, hitting her jump jet as she did. Solar energy coated her body as she spun clockwise. From her chest plate she pulled a fan of knives and let them fly. Each blade found their mark, spearing the follow up forces to walls and the ground before detonating and incinerating them. I had never see those two Supers before.

When the room fell quiet I stood awestruck by the sheer power I had just witnessed. I knew that Dagger was powerful but this was something else. Able to change attunments and Super with just a thought was a powerful attribute.

“What was that?” I asked smiling big, if I didn’t feel like a fan boy before I sure as hell did now.

“What do you mean?” Lu replied, her head tilted slightly. I could tell it she was slightly messing with me.

“That back there. The void blades and the invisible stuff then the whole knife trick.”

I tried mimicking the motions with my hands and doing some very bad sound effects as well.

“Oh the Supers? I picked them up from other Hunters in the Wilds after I left the City. You’d be amazed what the Vanguard and Shaxx won’t teach you. Is the elevator on its way?”

I paused then shook my head, “It should be. I hit the button and something clicked.”

Then we both heard a groan and a grinding noise. Something had come loose. A moment later the elevator arrived slamming down like it had been dropped from the top of the shaft. The force of the impact shook the room and a thunderous boom reverberated off of the walls. When the noise subsided, I heard Luisa sigh. She sounded annoyed.

“Well we’re not taking that one. Cable’s snapped.” she pointed to the top pulley, where we could both see the frayed edges of what once was a length of steel cable.

“So now what?”

With a curt tilt of her head, a very Hunter motion, she answered me. She nodded at a door nearby, where the second group of Dusk Vandals had entered the room from.

“We go down.”

“Down? Like down deeper into the Mines? But our exit is-” she cut me off, teasing me a little.

“Aw, what’s the matter? Afraid of the Dark, Little Light?”

I narrowed my eyes at her but I could feel my face slightly flushed, “No!”

“Then let’s get going, there should be another elevator in a deeper shaft. We can take it to the surface and circle back to Hawthorne.”

I keyed my comms, “Hawthorne we have to take a detour the old elevator’s fubar.”

“Copy all. Head for Shaft Three, there should be another elevator up from there.”

Luisa and I slipped passed more Fallen not wanting to fight if we didn’t need to. I eventually had to have Namjoon act as a flashlight when we arrived in Shaft Three.

“Power’s out.” Luisa said then hummed thinking.

“Is there a breaker box?” I suggested.

“Maybe, let’s see what we can find.”

We spread out searching around for anything that might control the power in this room. I found a box with a big lever on the side. Without thinking I flipped it up. It clicked into place and the lights flickered for a moment and died. I heard a howl in the tunnels.

“We’ve got company, Lu!” I shouted.

“Deal with them I think I have something!” she snapped back.

The room flooded with Fallen, Vandals, Marauders, Wretches, the whole nine. They were commanded by Captains and a large Servitor. I summoned Daybreak again and unleashed as much as I could on them. Daybreak wouldn’t last this whole fight but it did clear out most of them. All that remained was the Captain and the Servitor. I swapped to my Shotgun and tried sliding up to the Captain. My boot caught something and I lost all my momentum. He looked down at me and laughed when my gun jammed. The Captain raised a sword and ran the blade into my shoulder. The pain was blazing, like someone had run me through with a hot knife. Arc lightning shot through my muscles as he essentially tazed me. A Sniper shot rang out and the Captain stumbled back. I got to my feet, switching to my SMG and squeezing the trigger. The Captain flinched and fell over as I turned my attention to the Servitor hosing it down with the rest of my magazine. Its armor ripped full of holes but it remained functional. I moved away from it as I was blasted in the back by its main gun. Pain rippled up my back and I slid into cover. I focused my light and threw it to my feet forming a small well. My wounds stitched themselves up and the pain subsided. By the time I was able to engage Luisa had summoned up a large staff made of Arc lightning. She danced gracefully among the rest of the Fallen slaying them with ease. When the Servitor turned to face her I got worried. I couldn’t unjam my shotgun fast enough and it fired 3 blasts at her. She brought her staff up and began spinning it. A web of Arc formed around her and the blast bounced off of her. The first two rebounded left and right into the respective walls and the last one she slapped back like it was a baseball. The beam washed over the Servitor slagging parts of it and snapping wires all over its body. My pump finally locked forward as I finished unjamming my weapon. I shoulder it, fired and both the Servitor and my shotgun exploded into pieces. The pieces of my shotgun scattered around the room and I stumbled having nothing to absorb the recoil with.

“Damn it!” I swore, “Hawthorne gave me that shotgun! I kinda liked it...”

“No time to think about that, we’ve gotta get outta here before more of them show up.”

I started searching again for more breaker boxes. Luisa beat me to finding the main box and quickly flipped the breakers on. The light came on and this time they stayed on. In the back of the room sat an elevator shaft, I hit the button to summon it.

“So what was that...” I said leaning against the wall as the elevator made its way down, “Three Supers in three minutes?”

“Not the quickest I’ve ever cast them but yeah that sounds about right.” She replied crossing her arms, “You holding up okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah I’m good. Just need a breather.”

The Elevator slid into place behind us and we boarded. I hit the button to take us up. There was a silence between us as we waited before I finally broke it.

“So what was he like?” I asked.

“My husband?” she chuckled, “Gods where do I start? He had a big heart. Loved everyone. Especially me. Master craftsman too, a blacksmith. He made this sword for me.”-she hooked a thumb to Bolt Caster “He was unbelievably talented with his hands. Did electrical stuff, played guitar. Hell, he could spin a knife between his fingers better than most Hunters could.”

“He sounds pretty cool.”

“Jayden was a big dork though. Loved watching anime and internet shows. Got pretty into Tabletop games right before we went out on our last Raid. He had the best smile. Beautiful brown eyes, like two drops of dark chocolate. Kept his hair medium length but clean. Oh and hugs. He was a hugger.”

I nodded my head taking in every word before she sighed and looked away from me.

“I miss him.”

“I think all of your team does.”

“If there was one thing he loved as much as me it was the City. He’d always ask me if I wanted to go to these new places he’d heard about. Restaurants, thrift stores, hobby shops, the whole nine. Hell, he managed to find an adult store and asked me to go just for the sake of it.”

“Really.”

“Those days were an adventure unto themselves. But they were always fun. He loved me. He loved his Fireteam. He was the sunlight for us.” her voice quivered, “and now he’s gone.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, its okay. Jayden’s death still hasn’t fully set in, ya know? Like every day I swear I just saw him. Sometimes I see him in my dreams and I’m happy again, at least until I wake up.”

The elevator rumbled and locked into place. The wall behind us lifted. Luisa stood. Our break was over.

“Hawthorne we’re outside.” Luisa called, “what’s your location.”

“I should be about 50 meters to your left on the cliff side. I need that part asap.”

We headed that way and found her with more comm equipment, she was tinkering with some wires when we walked up.

“Hey you made it.” She said then extended a hand.

Luisa handed her the part, “This what you need?”

Hawthorne nodded and quickly installed the part. After that she turned everything on and began tuning in.

“Almost...”

There was a clicking noise, “Got it! Tower EM frequency.”

A message was already looping on the channel. It was Zavala.

“Guardians, this is Commander Zavala. Our City has been taken and the Traveler captured. If there’s anybody left, we rally on Titan.”

The message was on a loop. Luisa crossed her arms, “So that’s where Zavy went after the occupation? Color me surprised.”

“We should go there right? We should Rally with other Guardians?” I asked

“No!” Hawthorne protested, “The Farm needs you still!”

“But if there’s any chance to take back the City-” I tried to reason with her but Hawthorne didn’t seem to want to hear it.

“Your City is gone!”

Luisa sighed and set a hand on her shoulder, “Hawthorne please. Let us go out to Titan and see if we can get the Vanguard back to Earth. With them, we can protect the Farm and take back the City.”

She glared at us, “Fine. But just remember the people you’re leaving behind.”

The Farmhand stalked away from us leaving an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air.

“I think she’s forgetting that Rin is staying behind.” Namjoon commented.

“True.” Luisa said and summoned her Ghost.

“So that’s Bellona? Your Ghost?” I asked.

Namjoom looked sheepish for a moment glancing away from her.

“Hello Namjoon.” Bellona spoke, “I see you’ve found your Guardian.”

“Yes. Yes, I have.”

“Good for you.”

“Bell please flirt later. I need my ship and a course plotted for Titan.”

“Saturn’s moon? You’re answering Zavala’s Rally? I thought you’d have told them to eat the fattest of di-”

“That’s enough outta you!” Luisa cut in awkwardly, “Come along, June we’ve a long flight ahead of us.”


	6. Chapter 6

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the current situation. Hawthorne was convinced Luisa and I were abandoning her and the survivors to go meet with Zavala, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. We needed to and figure out a plan to stop the Cabal.

“Ease up, we’re breaking atmosphere.” Luisa instructed.

“So, what do you know about Titan, Lu?” I asked.

“Lotta water. Lotta rain. Supposedly there was an oil rig or something out here.”

“Isn’t this also where Oryx’s ship, the Dreadnaught is?”

“Yeah. Actually you can see it just off to our right, it should be in that massive empty spot in the Ring.”

I only just managed to see it as we broke atmosphere. Our ships banked in over a rig bobbing among the waves. I could see other ships had landed here too. Good we weren’t alone.

“Vanguard.” Luisa called, “This is Dagger lead and Blade 1, here to assist.”

“Turn back, you two.” Zavala replied, “The Hive are overwhelming us. I was a fool to bring us here.”

We set down on the rig, I had Namjoon mark where Zavala was broadcasting from. The two of us got moving.

“Commander we’re moving to your position.” I called.

“No! We’ve already lost too many Lightless Guardians out here. We can’t hold this moon.”

“Fortunately for you, Zavy.” Luisa said, “We have our Light back.”

“What?!” he paused then murmured, “Impossible.”

“Guardians this is Deputy Commander Sloane. We’re glad to have you here. If your Light really is back we could use a hand. There’s gear to prep Guardians to arm and so much more.”

“Perfect.” Luisa said as she and I crossed a gap between rigs, “How do we help?”

“The Rig’s power supply is down, we need you to get it running but we can’t do anything with the Hive out here. The control center should be at the center of the Rig. Get there and throw the switch.”

“Copy all, we’re enroute.”

We forged on in silence as the rain came down harder. I was tempted to let it wash over me by taking off my helmet.

“Not in a combat zone,” Luisa said catching me, “Plus that’s Methane. You really wanna smell like ass cheeks right now?”

“Fair enough.”

We got inside a small maintenance room and I heard a scream. Thrall began clawing out of the partially flooded room, claws raking against the metal floor as they did.

“Ha!” Luisa scoffed, “You think you’re scary?”

She summoned her Dusk bow and tethered the creatures, suppressing them so hard I heard bones break. She pulled a Handcannon from her belt, press the barrel to the closest Thrall’s head and squeezed the trigger. Every Thrall felt the impact and their bodies twisted and contorted in the Tether. All of them died probably in absolute agony.

“That was a bit overkill, don’t you think?” I questioned

“Not at all,” she answered, “The Hive enjoy pain like that.”

I’d be sure to keep an eye out for more things like that little outburst, Luisa may not have been all there anymore. We pressed on crossing bridges and facing many many more Hive before arriving at the control room. The two of us searched around. I found a big read button labeled Start on a console.

“Think I found something.” I said and hit the button.

We heard a click then a low whirring noise then a groan and the lights went out.

“Hmm...” Luisa hummed, “Generator’s on but not running...which means engine which means...”

She looked outside the summoned Bellona, “Can you get us a layout if the rig? I need to know how the Generator works.”

Bellona scanned the console I was near before she looked outside.

“Luisa, you’re not going to like this but...” Bellona stated and she projected a map of the Rig.

“First of all, I’d like to welcome you to New Pacific Arcology. Second, those big towers outside, running along the perimeter, yeah those are the pistons. Your engine as you mentioned earlier.”

“So let’s go see why they aren’t working.”

Luisa opened a hatch and led us both back outside. We had to do some odd jumping between broken rigging to get over to the first piston. Once we did I found a breach in the outer casing, it led inside.

“Well there’s your problem.” I pointed out faking the worst Southern US accent I could muster up. The piston was covered in some sort of Hive gunk which had it jammed up

“Oh damn,” Luisa whistled, “We need to break that shit off.”

She pulled her Handcannon and fired a round before I jumped in.

“Whoa! Hey aren’t you worried about damaging the Piston?”

“Boy, these things are thicker than Redwoods, my Hawkmoon isn’t gonna hurt it that badly.”

She fired three more rounds sending chunks of gunk scattering. Eventually the piston slid up and the rest of the gunk exploded off of it. With nothing to stop it it began slowly cycling before eventually getting up to speed.

“Sloane, one of the pistons had Hive gunk all over it. We scrubbed it out, now its working again.” I called back.

“We’re still in the dark though, might wanna check the others.”

Luisa was already moving I had to sprint to catch up.

“Are you sure you’re alright Luisa?” I asked

“Peachy,” she replied, “Now I may have a bit of a vendetta against the Hive but its not going to distract me from doing my job.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Look, June, the Hive are notorious for their cruelty. If Lightless Guardians came here to rally...” she trailed off, “I guess I’m just tired of watching all my friends die. And ya know stay dead...”

“I feel you but keeping a cool head is how you keep that from happening to you.”

We arrived at another Piston. I could hear the metal groaning like the Piston wanted to cycle but something was holding it back. We dipped inside. I saw the same problem, Hive gunk everywhere. I drew out my old SMG and fired a few bursts into it. I didn’t get to break any chunks before the Piston cycled shattering the gunk into atoms. Both of us heard that whirring noise as the generators began spinning up. The light flickered then glowed steadily.

“Power’s on!” I exclaimed

“Good work you two,” Sloane praised, “Meet us at command.”

We started back tracking. Of course when we arrived on the main Rig, the place was crawling with Hive.

“This isn’t good.” I pointed out opening fire on them

“Hive have had us trapped here for nearly 2 days, they have to be coming from somewhere.” Sloane replied.

Luisa turned to me and pointed to a nearby structure, “You see that hatch over there, with the Hive gunk coming out?”

To our left roughly 30 meters away I could see this yellow slime oozing from beyond a large hatch in the wall. Thrall were pouring out like an angry flood and jumping at anything that moved. I thought for a moment and nodded to her, heading that way with my SMG at the ready. Luisa followed behind me. When I turned to corner I wanted to gag. This room smelled terrible, there was Hive gunk all over the walls and these yellow pulsing cysts attached to various parts of the room.

“What the hell is this place?” I managed through a gag.

“Its a nest.” Luisa replied.

“So this is how the Hive reproduce?”

She waved her hand and hurled a Voidfire grenade at one of the many cysts. The flames boiled the insides before it popped. More yellow ooze filled the room.

“Hope you like popping pimples.”

I wanted to vomit but I drew up my weapon and opened fire ripping through the nearest cyst. It split open and out fell a semi formed Thrall. I heard a Wizard screech at us. It cursed at us in Hive speak and filled the room with poison. Luisa and I focused her down with gunfire and a few throwing knives. After the brood mother fell we finished up by scrambling the last few cysts in the room. The Hive began to retreat.

“Sloane,” Luisa called, “We’ve cleared a nest of Thrall outside of command. The Hive shouldn’t give you guys anymore trouble.”

“Excellent news fireteam. The door to command is unlocked, c’mon up.”

We found a few ladders and stairwells that eventually led us topside. When we got up there I heard a radio go off. Standing atop command, basking in the Methane rain were three Titans. The first turned and left immediately, Deputy Commander Sloane. She gave a curt nod as she did. The remaining two simply stared out into the endless oceans of Titan. One was clad in Iron Lord regalia, sporting the horned helmet and bronze colored plate armor similar to old knights. He didn’t seem to notice us.

And the last was Commander Zavala himself.

“I didn’t think it was possible.” he said, “Without our Light, are we even Guardians anymore?”

“Commander.” I said, “Of course we are.”

“Zavy, you and I both know you’ve never been the type to just give up.” Luisa commented.

“Look at where we are. I’ve lost the city, lost my fireteam. I-I don’t think we can win.”

“Well first things first we need the Vanguard back together if we want to win this fight.”

Zavala sighed. And the other spoke.

“We’ve been picking up a massive heat signature since you got the power back on. My guess is some sort of computer mainframe.” he said his voice sounded mechanical, an Exo

“That a fact, Wolfie?”

The Titan turned to face Luisa

“Now there’s a Hunter I haven’t seen in a while. How ya been, Lu?”

A realization hit me, “Wait, you’re Wolf-7? Like the Firebreak Order’s commander?”

“I am...”

“Wow, I uh... never thought I’d get to meet you in person.” I chuckled then caught myself and stood up a bit straighter, “June Solaire, Order of the Blades.”

“Ah. The Dagger fan club.” He looked to Luisa, “Didn’t know you had an ego that needed caring.”

“I don’t, Wolf, he’s just a kinderguardian that happened to get his powers back, now we’re going around trying get the band back together to get the City back from the Legion.”

“Sure.” Wolf sounded unconvinced, “Anyways, the three of us managed to steal a piece of Cabal hardware with a bunch of data on it. Unfortunately we don’t have the processing power to decrypt it all. The heat signature we detected might be a mainframe with the power we need. We figure out what’s on this thing we can plan our next move.”

Wolf handed me the data cache, “Get to the mainframe, decrypt the data, and get out.”


	7. Chapter 7

Luisa and I made our way out from command and down a few massive hallways. We jumped a few gaps between platforms before coming up to a massive glass wall. We were a few rigs over from our main post.

“So Wolf,” I keyed over comms, “What exactly are we looking for?”

“The main CPU. You get that, then Sloane and I can Jerry-rig it to decrypt that Cabal cipher we found. Figure out whatever it is they’re planning.”

“And we need you to do it quickly,” Sloane said, “the longer we sit in the dark the less time we have to plan our counter offensive.”

Luisa and I moved to the wall and noticed the glass had blow torch markings all around it.

“What in the...?” I trailed off

“Wolf, are there Fallen here on the Rig too?”

“Unless they followed us here, there shouldn’t be.”

The whole Rig suddenly shook. I widened my stance to keep my balance.

“What was that?”

“Damn it!” Wolf cursed, “Those bugs _did_ follow us, and they just dropped a Spidertank outside of command. Sloane and I are going to step away from comms for a bit, you know what to do.”

Luisa stepped up to the wall and unsheathed a knife.

“What are you doing?” I asked as she jammed the blade between the gap left by the blow torch.

“What’s it look like? I’m trying to see what the Fallen were after.”

She twisted the blade and with a grunt slammed her weight into it. The glass shattered around her revealing we’d been behind some kind of billboard. Luisa fell from the force she’d put on the glass. She growled a little bit but stood quickly dusting herself off. Ahead of us was a massive courtyard. There sat another billboard raised maybe 10 meters high across from us, it read “New Pacific Arcology.”

“Whoa...” I gawked

“Yeah, wow. What the hell is this place?” Luisa commented stepping through and glancing all around us.”

An automated message played over some speakers though it sounds slightly distorted, probably from speakers being old.

“Welcome to New Pacific Arcology, the premiere research center of Titan! Here, we hope to study the Traveler’s terraforming process when it arrives on Titan in-” the speakers broke into static for a moment “days! In the meantime please enjoy the commodities. And remember research is our top priority here! Again! Welcome to New Pacific Arcology!”

The Hunter looked towards me, “Guess we got our answer.”

“Commander Wolf, how goes the your situation?” I called back.

“Wolf and Sloane are still out fighting,” Zavala answered, “but their mission seems to be going well. Push deeper in, you’re looking for any sort of mainframe access. Perhaps finding the maintenance area would help.”

Luisa started across the courtyard almost with a purpose. I quickly caught up

“Luisa, do you have any idea where you’re going?”

“Yeah, towards the back. Maintenance is always in the back, or at least close to it.”

“And you know this how?”

“I don’t.” she admitted with a shrug and a short chuckle.

She led me into a hallway that was dimly lit. It snaked its way deeper into the Arcology and eventually we came to a door.

“Jackpot.” Bellona commented, “Let me get that for you.”

It was about now I noticed the door above said ‘maintenance’ in blue neon lights. Bellona spliced through the door and we proceeded inside. This room was dark but pretty open. I could see Thrall lapping at the water below, watched over by some Acolytes and a Knight.

I raised my weapon but Luisa grabbed my shoulder. I turned to face her, she shook her head. Instead she pulled a smoke bomb from her belt, primed it and threw it at out feet. Light bent around us.

“Cloaking tech?” I asked.

“Yeah, got this stuff from the Seraphim Vault. Keep quiet and we can slip by.”

We did so pretty easily, ducking through another hallway and eventually into a maintenance shaft. We crawled our way through avoiding all sorts of Hive as we did. At the end of our path we came to a massive roadblock, the shaft had collapsed on itself and flooded.

“Now what?”

I hummed for a second and looked around spotting an air duct.

“Up?” I asked pointing to it.

Luisa shrugged and pried the grate off with her knife letting us crawl inside. We scurried our way around in here like a couple of rats until I spotted something. Just below us was a massive platform and centered on it was a Golden Age CPU, ripe for the taking.

“Commander.” I called, “Luisa and I have found the CPU.”

“Good.” Zavala replied, “Secure it and get out of there.”

I continued crawling ahead wanting to get a better way down to it when the duct gave out. I instinctively hit my glide and slowly floated to the platform. I almost didn’t make it.

“You comin, Lu?” I shouted back.

I could hear her moving around in the duct work before I saw her legs swing out of the hole I’d made. A moment later she was hanging by the edges of the hole and swinging back and forth like a pendulum. After getting as much speed as she could she flung herself towards the platform, hit her jump jet and landed next to me.

“Too easy.” she said smugly.

“Show off.” I fired back.

She only laughed in response.

I started to examine the CPU trying to figure out how to safely remove it. Luisa had other plans. She stepped up to it and just yanked it from the base. It came out fairly easily. Then an alarm sounded and shortly after the Hive started screaming.

“Well that got their attention!” I said summoning Daybreak.

A hallway opened up to us and the Thrall came rushing in. I swung my weapon ripping through them with ease.

“Zavala, we have the CPU but just pissed off the entire brood.” I called.

“Get moving! I’m sending Holiday to pick you two up.” He answered.

We made our way into what looked like some sort of garage. This place was filled with armored vehicles. I looked to Luisa.

“Can you drive?” I asked.

“Pssh! Can I drive...”

There was an odd silence between us as she slowly walked towards the nearest vehicle.

“Can you?” I asked again wanting to be sure she was being serious

“Of course I can!” she snapped though her tone was still playful. I wondered why she wasn’t taking any of this seriously

We both hopped into closest truck to us.

“Guardian.” Amanda Holiday called, “My bird can’t fit into the section you guys are in. I see a causeway nearby, meet me there.”

Luisa fiddled around with some of the controls for a moment before the engine roared to life. The frame of our vehicle shifted, like someone had T-boned us. I looked out of the window and saw an Ogre with a fist reared back. I ducked down as he slammed a massive blow into the truck sending us skidding a few feet.

“Lu!” I called, “Any time you’re ready!”

She slammed her foot to the floor and we shot forward kicking up smoke from the treads as we did.

“Holiday, we’re mobile. But we’ve got a massive Hive brood on our six.” Luisa called

The Hunter zigzagged us around Hive gunk and larger threats like Ogres. Everything else was merely a speed bump. Hive all around us did whatever they could to try and stop us. At some point a blade pierced through the top, stabbing into Luisa’s shoulder. She screamed in pain as I drew up my SMG and sprayed rounds at the Knight that had landed on top of us. After a full magazine, it let go of its sword and fell from the roof. I took the blade in my hand, trying to dislodge it.

“Damn it, Solaire!” Luisa snapped as I moved it around, “Just fucking yank it out!”

I bit my lip and did so. Blood splashed onto my helmet and onto the center console, as Luisa’s shoulder wrenched free of the blade. She groaned out a little bit as Bellona started to heal her up. We rounded a corner to find the road blocked by a massive amount of Hive structures.

“Hold on to something!” She yelled and gunned the engine.

I grabbed the CPU and curled myself around it. We slammed head on into the wall and the car burst through with little trouble. Luisa kept up the pace correcting for the somewhat uneven impact. Shredder bolts and Boomer grenades slammed into us as we drove but surprisingly, the frame held. We whipped around another corner, sideswiping something as we did, and I could see Holiday’s ship hovering nearby.

“Got eyes on you two! Thank goodness you’re okay.”

The Hive started to back off, retreating into the recesses of the Arcology. We parked the truck tank thing and boarded Amanda’s ship for a ride back to command. I exhaled a breath I’d been holding in. Luisa was trying to catch her breath her hand resting on her injured shoulder as Bellona continued patching her up.

“Well that was fun.” she finally said, “Nothing like being chased by the Hive to get the old endorphins flowing...”

“That was absolutely terrifying!” I protested, “What do you mean?”

“That’s not the first time I’ve been chased by a hoard of angry Hive. Did the Journals not mention the time we went to Luna and killed Crota?”

“Yes but the details weren’t so...explicit.”

“You still have the CPU?”

I released my death grip on it and nodded

“Good. Then we shouldn’t have to go back there ever again...”

We delivered the CPU later that day. Wolf and Sloane started to decrypt the cipher but it would be a full day before they finished decrypting it. And what they discovered sent chills through me.


	8. Chapter 8

We met up the following day at command. Luisa looked like she’d barely slept. This was the first time I had seen her without her helmet, she kept her hair about shoulder length, it was jet black. Her eyes were blue like pieces of sky. She bore a scar on her left cheek, small but noticeable. Her skin was a lighter tan but not quite pale. I couldn’t help but stare, her face was beautiful. When her eyes met mine, I blushed and looked away. I could feel her smirking at me. The two of us sat with Zavala and Sloane as Wolf presented his findings within the cipher.

“They call it ‘The Almighty’. Its a massive satellite, and it has enough power to destroy suns. They have it here, and it is currently bound to our sun.” he sounded defeated.

“So that’s it?” Zavala asked, “We’ve already lost.”

“No.” I said, “We’ve come this far...How...we can’t just give up.”

“I’m sorry guys.” Wolf said, “If we attack the Almighty as we are, we’ll just get killed. And if we are able to destroy it...well I don’t want to know what that would do to our sun.”

Zavala slammed a fist into the bulkhead, easily denting it. Even without his Light the Commander was still very strong.

“No! If we do nothing we die, but if we attack together...maybe...just maybe we stand a fighting chance.”

There was an uneasy silence before Zavala finally spoke up again.

“We need the Vanguard.” He said, “I need my Fireteam. I need Ikora and Cayde.”

I nervously spoke up, “Where might they be, sir?”

“I don’t know about Ikora,” Wolf answered, “but we received this message from the edge of the system about two hours ago.”

He played the message for us. It was a garbled bunch of nonsense before we heard what sounded like the Hunter Vanguard himself.

“Where is this coming from?” Luisa asked.

“No idea.” Wolf admitted with a shrug

“That’s definitely Cayde’s voice,”

“But there’s a second voice there, too.” I said.

Wolf played it back again, the message was a lot of static before I heard it. It was very brief but I swore I heard another voice curse. This one wasn’t mechanical, it was human almost.

“Who’s saying that? I think they said ‘fuck all kinds of duck’ but I can’t tell.”

Luisa and Wolf exchanged a glance. Sloane sighed heavily.

“What?” I asked, “You act like I’m supposed to know them.”

“You’re a member of the Blades right?” Wolf asked me.

I nodded

“Then I thought you would have heard Thunder’s voice before.”

“Thunder? As in Thunder Notos?”

“Bingo.” Luisa said snapping her fingers, “Wherever Cayde is, Thunder is with him and it sounds like they’re in trouble.”

“Surprising absolutely no one.” Wolf commented throwing his hands up in the air

“Alright, now what?” I asked.

“We’ll need time to pin point where their signal is coming from.”

Comms opened up.

“Commander, Ops.” It said.

Zavala answered, “Go ahead.”

“We just got another message, but we think it might be the same one we received 2 hours ago.”

“Cayde’s message is looping. Ops can you pinpoint it?”

“We’ll try our best, sir, but no promises the signal is from really far out.”

I turned to Lu, “So where does that leave us?”

“Well, we could go back to the Farm, see if we can’t upgrade our gear. Otherwise we’d be just sitting here waiting.” she replied

“Commander.” Wolf said speaking to Zavala, “Why don’t you head back to Earth, Sloane and I can handle running the show here on Titan.”

“Perhaps that is for the best.” He turned to face Luisa and I, “When you two find Cayde and Ikora, meet me back on Earth.”

I gave Zavala the Farm’s coordinates, and he was on the next ship out. Luisa and I stayed on Titan with Sloane and Wolf, we spent the next few days figuring out where exactly Cayde and Thunder had disappeared to. After nearly a week, we finally got a lock.

“Nessus?” I said my head tilted slightly, “Where is that?”

“Apparently its where Cayde and Thunder are.” Luisa said, “How quick can we get there?”

“Nessus is pretty far out.” our Operations Director told us, “We’re talking out near Pluto and Charon, ya know the Kuiper Belt?”

“That’s far.”

“At FTL shouldn’t be more than a 10 hour flight. You should prep for a long journey,”

Luisa and I gathered up supplies and even got some materials to make better weapons and armor. Of course Luisa saved hers, meanwhile I forged myself a new set of armor. From there I broke down the rifle Devrim gave me and made a newer better rifle. I also broke down my SMG replacing it with a simple side arm and using the left over parts to fix my shotgun. Everything was eight kinds of Jerry-rigged but it worked.

“Hope you’re ready, rookie.” Luisa said boarding her ship, “It may be a while before we’re back here again.”

We hopped aboard our ships and an hour later had jumped to FTL on course for Nessus. After a few hours of listening to some podcasts and music I got bored. Thankfully my counter part was also bored.

“You still awake Rookie?” she called as soon as I finished listening to my last episode.

“Yeah.” I answered, trying not to sound nervous, “Yeah I’m still awake.”

“Bored yet?”

“A little bit.”

“Alright, try not to let it get to you too much, once we reach Nessus its back to business.”

“Was this what it used to be like? For Dagger I mean.”

There was a little hesitation before she answered, “It was. Dagger always flew in pairs, sometimes threes. But never this far out. Furthest I’ve ever been from Earth was Oryx’s Dreadnaught, so Titan wasn’t much further.”

“What about Jayden?”

“Furthest he ever went I think was also the Dreadnaught. Unless he hit somewhere else up that I didn’t know about.”

“And the others?”

“Not sure. I may have been Dagger lead but tracking them wasn’t exactly how I ran things.”

“You keep using past tense, is Dagger actually disbanded?”

“At the very least we’re on a break. My husband’s death hit us all pretty hard, and I wasn’t going to force the team to stay together if they felt they needed space. I think Thunder was the first of us to disappear. He and his fiance went to his cache in Japan then they stopped contacting us. Wolf and Rin busied themselves with running the Firebreak Order, Pluto and his girlfriend Thalia left the tower shortly after that. Then I left into the wilds.”

“But you still use the Dagger Lead call sign. You still call yourself Dagger’s Fireteam leader. How can Dagger not still be together if that is true?”

She sighed, “Its just a call sign, kid. Far as I’m concerned, Fireteam Dagger died with the man that glued it back together.”

I said nothing.

“Look.” she said, “I know you looked up to us, I know a lot of younger Guardians did. But our time is over. Our time in the spot light is gone, and now someone else can take it. Maybe it’ll be Fireteam Blade.”

I sighed, “There is no Fireteam Blade.”

“You call yourself Blade One though. I assumed you had a Fireteam.”

“None of the papers and stuff went through before the Cabal invasion. Besides, no one wants me on their team. Too much of a rookie.”

“Well you’re on my team now. Its not every day you get to work with your heroes.” she yawned, “I’m gonna try and get a nap in. Wake me up when we get close.”

The channel died. I looked to Namjoon.

“You get some rest, I’ll be sure to wake you when we arrive.”

I leaned my seat back, and after eating some rations I’d gotten together from Titan I shut my eyes and drifted to sleep.

I dreamed that night. Or maybe it wasn’t a dream, definitely a vision of sorts. In a massive expanse of dull whiteness sat a Warlock, clad in old Iron Banner gear, he had a sword on his back that glowed with a dimly lit flame. A Sniper rifle rested crossed under that, it was covered in Hive chitin. I warily approached him.

“You can relax you know.” he said as if sensing me, “After all I wouldn’t have called you here were it not important.”

“Who are you?”

“You know very well who I am, June Solaire.”

“Am I dreaming?”

“Partially. Your body rests but your Soul resides here currently. After all, I am the one who gifted you and the many others you brought to my shard their rightful powers.”

“So you’re the Traveler?”

“Not quite. I was gifted this duty by the Traveler after my rather unfortunate demise. But hey, sometimes that is what a Guardian must do.”

He turned to face me, a younger man, dark brown eyes shoulder length hair. I could have sworn I’d seen his face before but couldn’t place where, or even when.

“Why did you reach out to me?” I asked next

“You intrigue me. Once I was in your shoes, but a young and dumb Warlock trying to make sense of my second life. However, your role in this cosmic battle between the Light and Darkness is unbelievably important. You and Luisa found my shard. And you will be the ones who awaken the Traveler after all these years of it being dormant. You must gather the broken blade, forge it anew and strike back against the Dominus who dared take that which he does not deserve.”

“Forge the blade anew?”

“My time is short. And I cannot say precisely what you must do. But you will figure it out in time. Now return to the waking world, June, I believe you’ve a brain dead idiot to save.”

I woke up panting and bolted upright. I took a moment for me to get my bearings and remember what I was supposed to be doing.

“Are you alright Guardian? Your vitals spiked.” Namjoon asked

I nodded my head and keyed the comms, “Luisa, are you awake?”

There was a long silence before I heard a reply.

“I am now. Are we there yet?”

I looked to Namjoon and the little light simply looked out of the windshield, “Welcome to Nessus.”

“Not much going for her is there?”

“No, this place shouldn’t have anything here really. I’ll find us a place to set down.”

Our comms crackled, “Unidentified vessels this is Dagger 3, do you copy! C’mon please answer.”

“Dagger three this is Dagger lead, we copy.” Luisa replied.

“Luisa? Nevermind, I need you guys planetside now! Cayde’s in trouble, I may be in even bigger trouble and we could really use a-”

The feed died abruptly as we geared up and transmatted down to Nessus’ surface.


	9. Chapter 9

“Damn it!” Luisa snapped, “That brain-dead idiot’s going to get himself killed.”

We hadn’t been on Nessus more than a few minutes and not only was Cayde in trouble but so was Dagger 3, AKA David “Thunder” Notos. What was one of the Big 3 Gunslingers doing all the way out here? Namjoon had pointed out that Nessus wasn’t really a planet even. Astronomers classified it as a Centaur, a big asteroid with a small gravitational field. Typically their surfaces were nothing but stone and ice. When we landed here we found anything but just stone and ice. There were trees shedding red leaves, well worn paths, caves and tunnel systems and even a giant waterfall made of Radiolarian fluid. Or Vex milk as Luisa had dubbed it.

Currently Thunder was somewhere in the heart of the Vex operation trying to break Cayde out of doing something stupid. The two of us made our way underground following Thunders signal until someone jumped on our comms.

“Hello! Welcome to Nessus! Are you friends with the Cayde unit and his companion?” they said.

“What the...?” Luisa shook her head then keyed back, “This is Dagger lead, identify yourself!”

“I am the Failure and Safety Protocol of Exodus Black. You may call me Failsafe!”

Luisa turned to me. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Okay, Failsafe. We’re friends of the Cayde unit. Can you tell us where he is?”

“The Cayde-6 and his friend attempted to manipulate the Vex teleportation network. However they did not do so successfully. Now the Cayde Unit is trapped in a nonlinear loop. The one called Thunder has been chasing him for nearly 2 days now. However because of the loop, Thunder will never hope to catch up with the Cayde Unit.”

“We’ve got to figure out a way to break Cayde free.”

“Failsafe, can you give us a place to meet Cayde after his next teleport?”

“I can attempt that sort of prediction with a 76% accuracy. Please stand by while I calculate his most likely destination.”

We stood by before a scream of digital noise reverberated from a nearby gate.

“Heads up! We’ve got company!”

The gates began glowing and out stepped the Vex. We immediately began firing and tearing through the Vex before pressing forward.

“Alert, Vex confluxes are interfering with my scan. If at all possible, please stop them.” Failsafe called.

Luisa and I began searching. I’d never seen a Vex conflux before but Luisa found one almost immediately. The conflux was a small spire, maybe 2 meters tall. It had lines of what I assumed were Vex code zig-zagging through it. Luisa summoned her Ghost.

“Do your thing, Bell.”

Bellona started prodding at the Conflux much to the dismay of the Vex. Luisa seemed to be enjoying herself as she danced between the Vex, summoning up her Arc staff and ripping the Vex apart with little trouble. It felt like for every Vex we killed, two more took its place. She and I fought on regardless. After many more dead Vex and several more minutes Bellona sounded off.

“Got it! I jumped onto the Vex Teleportation network, Cayde should be showing up at these coordinates next.” she said.

“Thanks Bell, now shut that Conflux down!” Luisa ordered.

Bellona poked at the conflux for maybe another minute before it faded away.

“Done.”

“C’mon June, we’ve gotta catch up to Cayde quickly.”

We sprinted away from a Vex Massacre, heading deeper under ground. I opened a channel.

“Dagger 3, Blade 1.”

“Go for Dagger 3.”

I could hear gun fire in the background so I made it quick

“We know Cayde’s next teleport location. Meet us there.”

“Rodg, stay safe out there. The Vex are a real problem without the Light.”

The channel cut before I could tell him that there was a way to get his Light back. I looked to Luisa as we hauled ass through the caves.

“Don’t tell him.” Luisa said, “Not yet at least. Wait until we’re in a place of relative safety.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Thunder is one of those Guardians that prides himself on his mastery of the Light. If he finds out that a rookie has the Light but he doesn’t there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“The Cobalt Journals did describe him as Dagger’s hot head.”

She laughed a little, “Is that a direct quote?”

“Yeah, Chapter 10 Line 17. David “Thunder” Notos, the Hot head of our Fireteam. Hell of a shot, but with one hell of a temper and ego. Don’t call him David, he hates that.”

“What’s it say about me?”

I hesitated, the journals said more that most of us cared to know, “A better question is what don’t the journals say about you.”

“Lotta details on me eh? No surprise there, he once told me he loved me more than life itself.”

“That’s a paraphrase of Chapter 6 Line 14.”

I sensed her rolling her eyes at me.

We rounded a corner and had to hop across some platforms to a large almost arena area underneath Nessus. We could see Cayde stuck in what looked like lines of blue code.

“Cayde-6,” Luisa snapped, “What the hell have you done?!”

Cayde managed to spin himself around and face us.

“Hey! Look I’d love to talk but I don’t have long. You need to-”

The Vex roared at us and from a nearby gate came a Vex Axis Mind.

“Contact!” I snapped, bringing my rifle up and firing.

Luisa growled, “We’ll deal with you in a minute.”

I heard Cayde speaking as he spun back around.

“What the...? Is that a Hydra! Good luck Guardians!”

The Hydra roared furious and called forth another legion of Vex. I fought back as best I could. A sniper rang out louder than usual

“HEY JACKASS!” I heard a voice yell, human and male, “Over here!”

The Hydra turned and faced him. I couldn’t let Thunder fight the Hydra himself. I summoned Daybreak and jammed the blade into the Hydra’s back. I beat my wings flying up and dragging the blade with me. Radiolarian fluid sprayed the ceiling as my weapon broke free. Another sniper shot echoed through the cave. The Hydra fell out of the air into a pile of scrap metal that bled white fluid out of the back. I dismissed my Super quickly.

“Hydra’s scraps.” I called out to Luisa. She ignored me instead she stomped over to Cayde, furious.

“Hey Luisa!” he called, “Look I know it might not look like I know what I’m doing but trust me I know exactly what I’m-”

“Shut up Cayde.” She growled, she sounded very mad, “Important details only. How do we get you out of this?”

“The main teleporter. It should be top side. Cutting that off should break the loop and get me out of here.”

I’d never heard the Hunter Vanguard sound scared before, it was almost like Luisa’s very presence frightened him.

“Please tell me you understood that?” Cayde said.

“I did. Hang tight, Cayde we’ll have you out in no time!” I heard Thunder boast.

I spotted the Male Hunter approaching wearing the Knight Errant armor set, it was a shade of metallic gold and black, his helmet however looked like a hawk head.

“One last thing.” Luisa said, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh my cotton socks!” Cayde snapped, “Did you not hear what just said??”

And in a flash he was gone.

Luisa sighed and slowly moved passed Thunder and I.

“Shit like this,” Thunder said, “is why Cayde isn’t allowed to leave the tower.”

I nodded.

“Oh uh. Thunder Notos, Dagger 3 and Hunter expert.” he extended a hand. I shook it.

“June Solaire, Order of the Blades.” I replied.

“Part of the Cobalt fan club, eh? That how you found Luisa?” he set a hand to the handcannon his hip, “You’re not stalking her are you?”

“What? No! She found me in the EDZ looking for the Shard.”

“The Shard? Nevermind we’ll talk more later, we’ve got a Vanguard to bust out.”

We followed Luisa out of the caves and made our way along more well worn paths winding around massive rock piles and cliff faces.

“Oh,” Thunder said suddenly breaking the silence, “Just so you know, some group of Eliksni are here. Not Scars but some other house, I dunno if they followed us here or what but they can’t be reasoned with.”

“Must be the Dusk then.”

“The who?”

“The House of Dusk. They seem to be this collective of Fallen separate from the House of Scar.”

“Noted. C’mon, let’s get Cayde out of his nonsense then you can start telling me how you got your powers back.”


	10. Chapter 10

We pressed up towards a massive spire and found ourselves near what looked like a crashed ship. However our coordinates sent us east and we ended up back in the caves. I hadn’t said anything to Thunder yet about how Luisa and I both still had our powers but that didn’t stop him from digging for answers.

“Did you just revive?” he asked.

“No.” I answered frowning

“Did you commune with the Darkness?”

Luisa and I both sighed.

“Seriously! How’d you do it? I’ve been cut off from the Light for months now! Like sure Raijin can heal me and stuff but the little guy barely turns on anymore. I’ve had to tell him to stop healing the minor shit just so he can rest. I haven’t felt bruises and scraps in centuries. Forgot how annoying they were...”

“Trust me Thunder, I know.” I said, “I was without my Light from the minute I woke up in a crater in the center of the City.”

“Their attack was that bad huh?”

“The Cabal caged the Traveler, Thunder,” Luisa chimed in, “saying it was bad is an understatement...”

“Ah. So that’s why the Light is gone. I thought some cosmic level dick head had a grudge against me or something at first. Then Cayde found me. He had no Light too. Didn’t say how he lost his powers though...”

I opened a private channel to Luisa

“Does he ever shut up?” I asked

“Just let him talk, he’s trying to cope with a loss right now.”

“That sounds familiar...”

The feed died. Thunder went on, saying more things about being excited to go back to his Bunker and a bunch of other nonsense.

“My only thing is, I really hope the Cabal haven’t found my stache. They find that loot we’ll be in real trouble.”

“Where is your stache exactly?” I asked.

“Can I trust you?”

“Huh?”

“Rookie, I only tell people I trust where my cache is. Luisa already knows where it is, you’re the odd one out here.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yes, you can trust me?”

“Swear it. Swear on your Light right now, you’ll tell no one where my stuff is.”

I sighed, “Fine. On my Light, I shall not reveal your stache’s location. I will take its location to my grave.”

I sensed him smirk, “Mount Fuji, right at the peak there’s a statue of Raijin, the Kami of Thunder. May glorious thunder strike his drums and you’ll find my treasure.”

“Got it.”

There was silence for a moment before I spoke up again.

“What happened to Nylia Reeves?”

The Hunter was silent but sighed after a moment “Ny... gods, I miss her. She went back to the City, shortly thereafter is when we lost our Light. So the Cabal either have her...or she’s dead. And without the Light, there’s no coming back.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Why would you be? I should’ve gone with her. I don’t know why I stayed back. In the end, I like to think if she is dead that she died with a smile on her face. And that she took a small army of Cabal with her.”

“Got something.” Luisa said interrupting us. We had made our way through some more tunnels and found a large conflux. Next to it was a Vex device that was spread open and had data floating above it. Thunder moved to the device and jammed a knife into it. The device sparked and failed shortly after.

“I thought he said to shut it off.” I commented with a brow raised.

“Well its off now isn’t it?” he answered

“Cayde?” Luisa called.

“HEY!” his reply came loud, “You did it! I’m out!”

“What’s your location Cayde?”

“Uh. Somewhere. Look, there’s a crashed Colony ship, Exodus Black, near me. Meet me there.”

“Copy that.” she turned to us, “Let’s get moving.”

We started back tracking towards Exodus Black. I heard a roar and brought my weapon to bare.

“Sounds like Fallen.” Luisa said drawing a Handcannon that I assumed was Hawkmoon.

“Still rocking that old piece I see.” Thunder commented drawing his own. His weapon looked very similar to Cayde’s gun, the Ace of Spades.

“Damn it!” Cayde cursed, “Failsafe! They’re shootin at me!”

Failsafe’s answer was rather terse for an AI, “Then I suggest you not get shot.”

We pushed our way through a rather large group of Dusk, cutting a swath of devastation to Exodus Black.

“Alert!” Failsafe sounded, “Unidentified personnel detected.”

Thunder growled, “Its us, Failsafe!”

“Negative. High Ether Levels detected. I suspect a Fallen Ether Servitor has appeared. And it has brought a crew of Fallen with it.”

“We can’t let them take Exodus Black.” Thunder said and sprinted ahead, “C’mon! We’ve gotta go!”

The three of us pushed ahead as a Ketch flew directly over our heads.

“Uh...could you guys maybe hurry,” Cayde called, “I think the Fallen said something about tearing off my horn. My beautiful beautiful horn...”

By the time we arrived at Exodus Black a massive hoard of Fallen had beaten us here. Of course they were focused on breaking in to Exodus Black which had defenses activated.

“They don’t know we’re here.” Luisa said.

Thunder drew Ace of Spades, “They’re about to.”

“Don’t you fuckin dare...”

“Last I looked, Lu, you haven’t been fireteam lead for nearly a decade. What right do you have to give me orders?”

She didn’t answer only cast her Void Super and vanished.

“What?!?” Thunder snapped, “She’s got her powers too???”

I sited down my scout rifle and waited.

Thunder growled a little but holstered his handcannon, drew his sniper and sighted. There was a short pause before Luisa’s blades bit into the closest Vandal. Thunder rifle barked and a Vandal near the opening to the ship dropped. I fired a few round catching a Dreg in the shoulder then the back and finally putting him down with a blow to the head.

“Push up, Rookie,” Thunder said, “Lu’s going to want the help.”

I moved in firing a few more rounds before I cast my Super and rushed in loosing my fire on them. I spotted the Servitor and pushed on it meeting Luisa there as I did. With our Light combine the Servitor stood little chance.

“Failsafe, it’s Thunder. All Fallen neutralized.”

“Confirmed! You and your friends are optimal defenders of the Exodus Black. I will log this encounter for future use!”

“Could you lower the shields?” Luisa asked, “We need to speak to Cayde.”

“Of course.”

The shields blocking the hatch to inside the Exodus Black faded away. We found Cayde fiddling with something, another Vex teleporter.

“Cayde.” I called softly as we entered.

The Exo Hunter turned to us, he looked almost somber, “So its true. The Light found its way back to you.”

“And what exactly were you doing here?” Luisa asked, “Why in Traveler’s name are you all the way out here? What the hell was the plan?”

“Simple.” Cayde answered with his back turned. he crouched by the Vex teleporter he had been messing with, “Get up close to Ghaul, put a bullet in his head. Then maybe eat a sandwich...”

I facepalmed, typical Hunter.

“Look man,” Thunder chimed in, “I dunno if that’s gonna work. We could barely handle Vex out here what makes you think we can stop Ghaul?”

“At least I’m trying to stop him.” Cayde retorted, “I don’t see you doing that, Notos.”

“Knock it off you two!” Luisa snapped.

I flinched.

“June.” she said after a short silence, “Tell Cayde what’s going on.”

I nodded, “Ghaul has a weapon that can blow up our sun, and its pointed right at it.”

“All the more reason to get in and kill him then.”

“Zavala has a plan but he needs your help. He needs you, Cayde!”

“Zavala’s always got a-” Then what I actually said got his attention, “Wait. Zavala said he needs my help?”

“Yes.”

“As in those exact words? You heard those exact words come out of Zavala’s mouth.”

“For fucks sake...yes!” Now I could see why Luisa was so irritated with him all the time. Cayde may have been Hunter Vanguard but the two of them were vastly different Hunters when it came to their attitudes and how they worked

He paused, “Well then. I guess I’m headed out then.”

“Okay one question.”

The Hunter Vanguard looked to me, a mechanical brow raised.

“Where is she? Where’s Ikora?”

He paused then breathed a single word, “Io.”

“Sorry?”

“Io. Its where she’d go to look for answers.”

“You’re sure about that?” Luisa said, “One hundred percent sure?”

I set a hand on Luisa’s shoulder when Cayde didn’t answer.

“Luisa. Remember what you told me back in the EDZ? Io is the last place the Traveler’s Light touched before the Collapse. Its sacred ground to all Guardians, but especially Warlocks.”

Realization seemed to hit her when I finished speaking.

“So that’s where you went, you Void spamming fucker...”

“What?”

Luisa started to leave the Black, Thunder and I followed.

“So we’re all going to Io?” Thunder asked

“It would seem so, but who would Luisa be talking about? It’s definitely not Ikora.”

Thunder nodded his head, “You’re right, she’s talking about a friend that we haven’t seen in a very long time. C’mon kid, let’s get going.”


End file.
